GRAVE SITUATION

Manawatu Standard, Volume LII, Issue 48, 27 January 1932, Page 7

GRAVE SITUATION

JAPAN’S ULTIMATUM

0 DEFENCE MEASURES AT SHANGHAI.','

LARGE-SCALE ENCOUNTER INDICATED

(United Press Association—By Electric Telegraph.—Copyright.) Received January 27, 10.20 a.m. ■ SHANGHAI, Jan. 26.

The Consul-General, Mr Murai, today received definite instructions from the Tokio Foreign Office regarding the action to be taken in the presept grave situation at Shanghai.

Although the details are not published, it is reliably predicted that drastic measures, including the occupation of Chinese territory, will bo undertaken.

The failure of the Chinese authorities to reply to the Japanese demands has exhausted the patience of Tokio, and it is now reported that a 48-hour ultimatum will be delivered to the Mayor, Mr Wu. . Brigadier Fleming, commanding the British forces at Shanghai, has been requested by the Shanghai municipal authorities to take the necessary defence measures for the protection of the International Settlement, in collaboration with the French, American and Italian forces. .. , , ; The Chinese authorities continue their military preparations in the surrounding areas. Trenches are being dug across the roads and barricades erected at the railway stations. Official buildings are presenting veritable' fortresses ns additional troops are concentrating at these points. p The commander of the local Chinese garrison asserted: “Manchuria was occupied without a fight, but the Japanese will'know that they have been, fighting before they capture my territory.”' It is estimated that there are ,approximately 30,000 Chinese troops in the Shanghai areaThe Japanese forces are being strengthened with the despatch of the first torpedo flotilla from Sasebo, consisting of one cruiser and twelve destroyers. DISPERSAL OF BANDITS. JAPAN’S ACTIVITIES. Received January 27, 8.5 a.rn.. . TOKIO, Jap. 26. The army is planning a more extensive use of aeroplanes for the dispersal of the bandits remaining'in Manchuria. JAPAN’S NOTETO U.S.A. EFFECT OF CHANGED CONDITIONS ON TREATIES. The Consul-General for Japan in Australia, Mr K. Inoue, recently made available Japan’s reply to America’s Note asserting the intention of that country to adhere to its rights under various international agreements, including the Nine-Power Treaty and the Kellogg Pact. It points out that while disunion and antagonism in China do not affect the binding nature of treaties, it might, in material respects, modify their application. Japan's Note acknowledges receipt of America’s N.ote, and says:—“The Government of Japan is well aware that the Government of the United States could always be relied on to do everything in its power to support Japan’s efforts to secure the complete flfilment in every detail of the trenis of Washington and the Kellogg eaty. for tfie outlawry of war. It is'glad to receive this additional assurance of the fact.

“As\regards the question of the socalled 'open door’ policy, the Japanese Government, as has so often been stated, regards that policy as the cardinal feature of the politics of the Far East, and regrets that its effectiveness is\ so seriously diminished *by the unsettled conditions which prevail throughout China. In so far as it can secure it, the 'open door’ policy will always be maintained in Manchuria asVin China proper. “It takes note of the statement of the Government of the United States that the latter cannot admit the legality of matters which might impair the treaty rights of the United States or its citizens, or which might be brought about by means contrary to the treaty of August 27, 1928. It might be a subject of academic doubt whether in the given case impropriety of means neoessarily and always avoids the ends being secured, but, as Japan has no intention of adopting improper means, that. question does not practically arise. It may be. added that the treaties which relate to China must necessarily be applied with due regard to the state of affairs from time to time prevailing in that country, and that the present unsettled and distracted state of China is not what was in contemplation of the high contracting parties at the time of the Treaty of Washington. It was ~ertainly not satisfactory then; but it did not display that disunion and those antagonisms which it does today. This cannot affect the binding character or the stipulations of the treaties; but it may, in material respects, modify their application, since they must necessarily be applied with reference to the state of facts as they exist. - “The Government, desires further to point out that any replacement which has occurred in the personnel of the administration of Manchuria has been a necessary act of local occupation. Even in the coses of hostile invasion, which this was not, it is customary for the local officials to remain in exercise of their functions. In the present case, they, for the most part,, fled or resigned; it • was. their own behaviour which was calculated to destroy, the working of the apparatus of the Government. The Japanese Government cannot think that the Chihese people, unlike all other are destitute of the power, of self-determination and of organising themselves in order to secure civilised conditions when deserted- by existing officials. “While it need not be repeated that Japan entertains in Manchuria no territorial aims or ambitions, yet the welfare and the safety of Manchuria and its accessibility for general trade are , matters of the deepest interest and of quite extraordinaiy. importance to the Japanese people. That the American Government is always alive to the exigencies of Far Eastern questions has already been made evident on more than one occasion. At the present juncture, when the very existence of our national policy is involved, it is agreeable to be assured that the American Government is devoting in friendly, spirit such sedulous care to the correct appreciation of the situation.”