Japan—And Stark Realities
pp. 7-8 · Read in the full issue
ON page 11 of this issue there is published an article in which an attempt is made to present all the facts and probabilities in relation to the Japanese claim to control the territories of the Pacific (“Oceania”) —a subject of vital interest to- every European dweller in the Pacific. , Ever since this journal was estab lished, in 1930, articles have been published in which was presented the argument that, if European nations holding colonies in and around the Pacific did not give consideration to the plight of landless Japan, an inter-racial explosion in the Pacific was inevitable. Nothing that has happened since September, 1939, gives us cause to amend that argu ment; but much has happened to modify our conclusions.
Because of events due to her ill calculated and criminal attack upon China, Japan in recent years has passed under the control of Fascists and militarists; and these people have thrown the great Asiatic Power into the arms of the predatory Hitler and the strutting Mussolini. Had the middle-class statesmen who so suc cessfully guided the destinies of Japan in the first 30 years of this century been still in control, Japan W9UM to-day be at least the neutral friend of Britain and the United States, using the unforeseen situation created by the war against Hitlerism to advance her proper claims for more territories to colonise, and wider op portunities for her trade expansion.
But Japan, apparently, has chosen another path. Her foreign policy is based, now, on the presumed defeat of Britain. She is officially and actually allied with our deadly enemies. Her navy, her armies, and her air fleets now are lined up in the vicinity of South China and Indo china, gazing eagerly southwards, awaiting a word which will start them advancing towards the rich lands of “Oceania”, to which already they openly have laid claim. Their leaders, in what appears to be a delirium of hysterical, nationalistic excitement, continue to make state ments to the anxiously listening world, which are not consistent with each other nor in accordance with plain facts; and which, to use an Americanism, “do not make sense”.
Japanese statesmen, for instance assured us suavely on March 10 that Japan desires nothing but good neighbourliness and peace in the Pacific; and one of her leading news papers announces flamboyantly on March 11 that “the forthcoming Thai- French peace agreement marks the first concrete step in Japan’s south ward policy”. We know that the Thai- French peace agreement establishes Japan in Indo-China; and that south ward of Indo-China there are only Malaya and the Dutch East Indies Since Indo-China is the “first con crete step”, we can only assume that Malaya or the Dutch East Indies are to be the second concrete step.
We must remember that we are
dealing with an Asiatic mind, and a nation in a strange condition of exaltation; and, while observing the proprieties of diplomacy, we must prepare for the worst.
THE Foreign Minister of Japan, Mr.
A Matsuoka, with an impressive entourage, left Tokyo on March 11 for Berlin and Rome; and he told the press that he would meet the leaders of Germany and Italy and preach “my long - cherished world - peace views”. He admitted that he would make a call at Moscow—which means of course, an effort to persuade Stalin not to interfere with the “southward policy”. The Berlin radio says: “The German nation looks forward to this visit with joy, for it will provide an opportunity to discuss all questions of co-operation under the Three Power Pact”. On the very same day, March 11, the first Japanese Minister to Australia, Mr. Kawai, arrives and makes to Australia the soothing and pleasant assurances of friendship and peace, which are the accustomed utterances of Japanese representatives in such circumstances. Admiral Nomura made them, when he arrived in Washington, a month ago, and was practically frozen out. They come strangely from the country which grabbed Manchuria, attacked in offensive China, and now, taking ad vantage of France’s plight, are pro ceeding to exercise control of Indo china.
THE Anglo-Saxon powers have A learned very much in the last ten years. In 1930 we—believing that
the world was ready for peace—had disarmed ourselves to the point of extreme vulnerability. We were put ting our faith in the League of Nations and our confidence in the assurances of other Powers. To-day, in a world dominated by jungle law, among nations which literally slobber with greed whenever they contem plate the possibility of looting our Empire, we are fighting for our very existence, with not one dependable friend in the world except our cousins of the United States—whose eager ness for the preservation of the de cencies of civilisation equals our own, but whose sword yet is undrawn. What are we to accept—the stark facts of reality (which include the enormous, armed forces of Japan standing at the line of Indo-China, and an ag gressive Japanese press) or the sooth ing assurances of Mr. Kawai and of Mr. Matsuoka, who at this moment is racing across Asia to hold a soul communion with our arch enemies, Hitler and Mussolini?
Are we to put our faith in the well tried democratic institutions in which we believe, and which are the pro duct of two thousand years of Western European social evolution: or a so-called “New Order in Europe ’ and “Co-prosperity League in Asia’’— fantastic things which are the pro duct of strange people and strange cliques that have sprung up in a night?
We believe now, as we have believed for months, that there is little danger of war with Japan so long as we are strong, well-armed and vigilant; but that, if Britain or America is weak ened, either by defeat in war or “appeasement” in the diplomatic field, the Third Member of the Axis will launch an attack upon us in the Pacific, without warning and without mercy.