THE FAR EAST

Waikato Times, Volume 122, Issue 20465, 4 April 1938, Page 6

THE FAR EAST

Reports of developments in China may be withheld from the Japanese people, but the leaders must know of them, and it is apparent that the position is most unsatisfactory. What the Japanese chose to term “the China incident” appears to be assuming the proportions of a crisis for the invaders. The danger is not solely military, for there are financial aspects. Already the expenditure of the campaign has exceeded the Russo-Japanese Avar and the conflict with China some years ago. It has been a most costly 1 -’siness, as all modern military operations must be. It has been estimated that Up to December 31 last the Japanese had expended £240,000,000 on operations in China, and that is by no means all. The Tokio authorities, fearful of active Russian intervention, have had to station and maintain very large forces on the borders of Manchukuo. Some correspondents have reported that the best of the fighting forces have never been sent to China, the military commanders having decided that they must remain in the puppet State to the north.

The difficulties of the Japanese forces, now spread out over a very large area in China, must be serious. Each advance in the earlier stages meant longer and longer lines of communication. The feeding and supplying of such large forces must, in the circumstances, have created a terrific strain on transport and the further they went the greater the difficulty. Reports state that the Chinese are active in destroying railways and bridges and the obvious intention is to seA*er the lines of transport between the Japanese troops and their supply bases. The course will also prevent the arrival of reinforcements and the evacuation of the casualties. The position proves how seriously the Japanese militarists under-estimated the task which they attempted. They have consolidated opinion in China as it had never been knoAvn in modern times. The morale of the people has not been broken and the Republic apparently can still place fairly well-equipped forces in the field. The result is that the strain on the economic strength of Jhpan is growing rapidly. Armed aggression may mean economic exhaustion. Perhaps Japan is not the only country that must learn that lesson.