Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-08-21
JAPANESE HELD GAMERS
BY GENEVA CONFERENCE
Nipponese Delegates Considered to Have
Enhanced Prestige by Policy at
Recent Arms Parley.

And they have little notion that this
process can now be arrested. Nor can
one mistake their amazement at what
they describe as British ineptitude in
dealing with the Chinese problem.
The transfer of native troops from
India to China, to their minds was q
blunder almost incredible-and it led
to a rapid repatriation Of these troops
after a short delay
Japan, like Europe. has a sense OF
the weakening of British imperial
force. British policy seems to dis.
close a singular inability TO cope with
new conditions. both political and eco
nomic, and a futile reliance upon old
methods which have become obsolete
and are now provocative rather than
salutary. In this situation nothing
could be more absurd than the idea,
rumored in Geneva frequently. that
Japan and Britain might combine
again and renew the alliance which
was abandoned at Washington.
1t is true that the Japanese resent
the fashion in which the alliance was
scrapped. They feel that they were
used by the British during all the
dangerous period of the pre.war and
war days. But when the end of the
war destroyed their usefulness. not
only were they set aside, but they
were treated as prospective enemies,
and Singapore was constructed against
them.
DO Not Seek British Pact.
Nevertheless, they rejoice over the
fact that the alliance lapsed, because
otherwise they would have been bound
to support British policy in China in
the recent troubles, and their support,
thus insured, would have enabled the
Tory cabinet to take far more drastic
steps. Thus they would have been
toWed after Britain and have become
the supporters Of Europe in Asia. And
such a policy could have earned no
rewards commensurate with the costs
1t involved.
Today there Is no temptation to the
Japanese to embark upon a new
British alliance because it offers them
no real reward. Originally 1t was a
British guarantee against Imperial
Russia, recently defeated in the
Russo-Japanese War, but still resent.
full and dangerous. 1t was, too, a.
precious recognition of Japan alike as
a great and a civilized power. And,
In return, it involved no more than
a possible conflict with Germany,
whose course in the Sino-Japanese
settlement was bitterly resented in
Toxic. But today Japan needs no
recognition either as a great or a
civilized power and Western prestige
has sunk UNNECESSARILY in the East
and the moral value of a Western
alliance with it.
Nor have the Japanese any temp
tation TO embark upon a British al
lance which might have any anti
American implication. Rightly or
wrongly, the Japanese have read the
future az likely to disclose American
rise and British decline. Resolved not
TO tie themselves to either of the
Anglo-SaXon powers for patiently valid
reasons, they are least of all likely to
join that state which seems to them
the weaker. OF course. it is under
stood that the Japanese do not look
for an Anglo-American conflict, but
they see that an Anglo-Japanese al.
lance would be automatically useful
to Britain and correspondingly irri.
tating to the United States.
At Geneva, Japan favored limita.
ton because on the present basis the
Japanese fleet is adequate for Japa-
nese requirements and the Japanese
purse does not permit of large new
4,
speaking, the Japanese are favorable
to all forms of limitation that restrict
both the British and American fleets,
which alone could operate in the
Pacific. The American proposal
limiting tonnage would patiently re-
duce the British fleet in the Far
East. And if, by any combination Of
circumstances, Britain should he
forced TO leave Chinese waters, to fall
back behind Singapore, Japan would
remain supreme.
British Rule i'm India.
Moreover. the japanese remain con.
WINGED that British rule in India can
hardly endure. They report auits
frankly that British administration ex-
haustS It's resources in keeping Japa.
nese out of India and in preventing
the Japanese government from obtain
ing any adequate reports of Indian
conditions. but from this activity they
not unnaturally conclude that the con-
dltions themselves are disturbing.
Moreover, Young Japan is not little
by the doctrine of self-deter.
mlnatIon so far as it can be invoked
by Asia against Europe.
When the allies in the World War
combined to extinguish German power
In China, when the Washington con.
ference completed the transfer of Chi.
nese territory from Germany to China,
they provided Asia with a shining ex.
ample. If one western nation could
go, why not all? Meantime. for Japan
the wise course is to retain both Brit
ish and American friendship. TO avoid
even the semblance OF exploiting tenn.
porary differences, but to. equally
avoid being persuaded by a new ALI.
ance to serve as an agent of British
policy and as prop of British power.
And at Geneva Japan won praise from
ALL sacrificed nothing and emerged
with plainly enhanced prestige as the
single power present which sought
and avoided pressing ma.
Lional interests at the expense of con-
ference success.