Evening star., 1933-03-31
MkTSUOKA URGES
REVISION Of TREATY
Declares Nine.PoWer Pact
Should ConIUm to Real
tiles, Not Fiction.
BY CONSTANTINE BROWN.

10 De .carefully StuQled ana eventually
revised so as to correspond to realities
and not to fiction" Yosuke Matsuoka.
the Japanese statesman. who headed
the japanese delegation which withdrew
from the League of Nations last month,
said at a press conference last night.
Mr.. MatSuoka, who arrived here last
night, called this morning at the White
House to pay his respects to President
Roosevelt, whom he has known since
he was Assistant Secretary of the Navy.
He also called later ON Secretary of
State Hull. Both these visits were
purely a matter of courtesy and have
no political significance. Besides the
fact that Mr.. Matsuoka is travelling
through the United States as a private
individual, he spent less than 10 min
utes with the President and barely a
quarter of an hour with the Secretary
of State. 1t is natural that there
was no material time for him to discuss
with either statesman anything Of real
consequence.
But the Japanese diplomat talked
frankly to the press and answered
without hesitation all the questions put
to him.
In developing his thoughts in re-
gard to the nine-power pact, which
the co-Signatories maintain had been
in Manchuria. Matsuoka said: Japan
has never had any illusion about the
real state of affairs in China, even ar
the time when the American Govern
ment sponsored the nine-power pact.
Yet, it decided to put its signature
on that pact, sharing, to a certain
extent, the opinion of the other nations
that in the course of time, China
protected against any foreign inter-
ION, lob L. sx.
and become again a unified nation.
Hopes Unfulfiled.
1.-The hopes of Japan have never ma
terialized. Conditions in China have
grown from bad to worse What the
League of Nations and the American
people describe as a nation is really
nothing else but gigantic conglomer-
alton of military relationships fighting
each other. Could We go on like this
forever, when We had SO many citizens
In Manchuria? Other nations, less
vitality interested in the chaotic con-
ditions of China, may have wished to
continue with the illusion that that
fiction which is called a nation could
improve, but Japan is too much inter-
ested in bringing order in Eastern Asia
and had to act. What we did in Man.
what the British did in Shanghai in
1927 when they landed 10000 men to
protect their nationals, yet nobody pro-
tested then
OF course, MFR. Matsuoka overlooked
the fact that the British at that time
sent troops only for the protection of
the life and property of their nationals,
an action permitted under international
customs and Withdrew as soon as they
were not needed any longer, while Japan
went to Manchuria to stay and, if pos
Sible, to annex more Chinese territory
The Japanese statesman was uncer-
tain as to whether the Japanese army
would advance south of the Great Wall
into China proper and eventually oc-
cupy TientSin and Peiping.
Neither the japanese government
nor the japanese army in Manchuria
desired to occupy even Jehol," he stated.
but the Chinese, desirous to place
Japan in a difficult position with the
western world, actually provoked the
observation-disclosures invasion of that
province. 1t is not impossible that
they should repeat such pfovocations
again, and massacre our nationals who
i've in Tientsin or Peiping. Should
such a thing happen, it is quite pos
sible that the japanese army will be
iorccd, against its own will, to occupy
those cities to protect the life and
property OF our citizens"
Discusses Pacific Fleet.
Mr.. Matsuoka emphatically denied
the statement attributed to him that in
order to reassure public opinion In
Japan the American fleet should be
Withdrawn from the Pacific. II have
been grossly misinterpreted," he stated.
Under an avalanche of questions from
reporters, here and abroad, to express
an opinion about the presence of the
whole American feet on the West
Coast, I stated that among certain
japanese people, there is a good deal
OF apprehension about the presence of
the American naval forces in the Pa
cific, and that even among members Of
the cabinet there may be certain feel
ing in connection with that concentra-
tion. But my personal point of view
Is that this IS Americas own business
and that nobody has anything to say
about where your Government wants to
maintain its naval forces
The japanese statesman was not less
positive, but much more diplomatic than
the Toxic government when discussing
the question OF the inundated islands
in the Pacific.
Il don't understand" he said, why
all this rumpus over these islands. In
the first place there can be no question
about the mandate sirce Japan is not
actually out of the League for another
two years. But even if that did not
come into consideration, the decision
that these islands should be given to
Japan was taken by the allied and as
sociated powers at Versailles before the
treaty of Versailles was signed. The
mandate over those islands was merely
confirmed by the League of Nations and
our position is similar with your posi-
tion in regard to the Island of Yap.
Fertilization Story Denied.
'T personally regret that this ques-
ton was taken up SO seriously by the
American people because it Is bound 10
raise the question in the minds of the
japanese people as to whether, by any
chance, you want the islands for your
selves
Mr. Matsuoka denied the stories pub
listed in newspapers here and in Eu-
rope, that Japan transformed some OF
the inundated islands into submarine
or naval bases.
He had also been too long absent
from Japan to know the reasons why
the Japanese government had been
recently purchasing in Europe some 10
large liners such as the Baltic, the
Megantic and. according to recent re-
ports, one of the most important White
Star liners, the Olympic.
QANK Q0QQCn Nv TPI0