Evening star., 1935-03-10

an understanding between the British
Empire and the United States are
echoed once more with significant en-
phasis in the columns of the London
Times. and are the subject Of grow
ing volume Of weighty appeal to the
British government to take measures
against the Eastern avalanche.
No student of world affairs carries
more authority than Lord Lothian,
and in a remarkable letter to the
Times he calls for the immediate
mobilization of the signatories to the
nine power treaty in order to consider
Joint action.
1T is quite clear" Lord Lothian
SAYS. that Japan has set to work to
nullify the political basis Of the Wash
ington treatieS-namely, the integrity
of China, equality of opportunity for
the trade of all nations in China and
the principle that these questions we're
the collective concern Of the sigma
tories of the nine-power treaty. l do
not think it is open to doubt that
Japan hopes to face the world with a
~
that which she accomplished in Man
choukuo by the expiry of the two years
notice during which the washington
treaties still remain in force"
What is to be done? There is, OF
course, no question of war" says Lord
Lothian. That is the strength OF the
Japanese position, as they well know.
But there is all the difference between
a policy of drift before the apparently
inevitable and a vigorous use of such
power and influence as are possessed
by the other signatories of the nine
power treaty. which is now being torn
up without their consent"
The sole question is whether Japan
is going to get away" with a repe-
tition on the gigantic field OF China
as a whole of the policy of veiled an
nexation she has already carried out
in Manchoukuo, and Lord Lothian re-
CARDS the immediate summoning of
the signatories to the nine-power
treaty as the obvious and urgent
necessity of the moment.
From another point of view. the
London Spectator is no less emphatic
on the need of action in regard to
the Asian crisis. Writing on the
India bill now before Parliament and
on Gen. Smuts' Cape Town speech.
it points out the importance of a
stabilized and contented India in
the incalculable situation created by
japanese ambitions. The direct con-
sequence of japanese policy, 1t says.
is the resolute expansion OF Russian
ornaments on the one hand and
American armamentS on the other,
and it anticipates that the break will
come over "the open door" in China.
The open DIOR Is q cardinal feature
of American policy, and the Spectator
regards it as inconceivable that
America will ever accept unhindered
japanese expansion over Chinese
territory or open japanese infringe
ment of Chinese sovereignty. This
fact should be made clear to Japan
at once, and while the Spectator does
not ask for an Anglo-American ali-
ance. it insists on the need OF such
close cooperation by the two nations
as will convince Japan Of their de-
termination to maintain the Far
Eastern policy they concerted at
Washington in 1922.
X X X
In this matter, the settlement OF
the Indian question is Of vital con-
Germ in preserving the status quo In
Asia. Japan is driving at a pam
Asiatic movement, with China under
her influence and outside the League
of Nations. In the face OF this vast
challenge, the Spectator says, the
whole future of Asia, and perhaps Of
the world, might depend on whether
India was contented or discontented
with her lot, chafing, sullen and ex-
plosive under alien trammes, or
building up her nationhood In CO.
operative partnership with a British
commonwealth. 1t is from this
point of view that the Spectator re-
CARDS the India bill as "a factor OF
stability, perhaps the decisive factor,
in an Asia over which, as Gen. Smuts
rightly warns US, the storms are
gathering and may sometime break"
(Copyrisht. 1850