South"

"They're Coming

American Professor on Future Policy of Japan

“rTVHEY'RE coming south!” was the 1 frank statement of Dr. Tyler Den nett, professor of international af fairs at Princeton University, U.S.A., when he arrived in Melbourne from China, Japan and the Philippines on February 15, and was asked by the Mel bourne “Herald” to comment on the Jap anese occupation of Hainan Island.

Dr Dennett is visiting Australia under the auspices of the Carnegie Corporation.

A second, and still more important thing, he said, was the question; What are the French—and the British—going to do about it? Japan in Hainan threatened French and British communi cations. It was an ideal air base, 300 miles from Hong Kong, and an import ant factor in Japan’s evident expecta tion to control the whole China Coast.

Another factor was Japan’s military line, stretching 2,700 miles from Canton to Tientsin, back of Hankow.

Japan was not looking beyond Hainan to Australia, said Dr. Dennett; at least, not for the present.

It was obvious that General Chiang Kai-shek must stress the ultimate possi bility of attack on Australia, in his at tempt to draw Britain and France into the Sino-Japanese struggle. It was just as obvious that Japan must strenuously deny any such intention.

China, he said, was very optimistic. It had great capacity for resistance. China was not going to organise a great cam paign to retake Nankin, Hankow, and Tientsin; but its unlimited man-power gave the country an illimitable staying power. From now on, the battle would be between the Japanese yen and the Chinese dollar—and the dollar now was better money than the yen.

The foreign merchants’ day was over in Japan and China, said Dr. Dennett.

Whichever side won would exclude the foreign trader. This was apparent in China years before the trouble with Jap an. Chinese politicians had made their way by kicking the foreigner around, al though just now they were very fond of him. There was no reason to believe the war had brought a permanent change of - heart.

Dr. Dennett said he found in the Philippines that the political leaders, who had been galloping furiously towards in dependence for more than 50 years, were now trying to swap horses, and go just as furiously in the opposite direction.

The public, trained to shout for inde pendence, was not inclined to applaud the change of policy.

Thoughtful leaders believed that to complete secession by 1946, according to the U.S., legislation which provided for withdrawal from the Far East by that time, would be to hand the Philippines over to Japan. Some effort would be made to revise the Philippine independ ence policy, but whether this would be achieved it was hard to say.

Politicians in the Philippines had thrived on abuse of America and asser tions that she had not fulfilled her pro mises. Now they were going to try to educate their own people back to the idea of dependence on the United States.

At the same time they would like to educate the American people back to where they were before the policy of withdrawal from the Far East. In both

these re-education efforts they would have to race against time.