Evening star., 1936-02-17
SOVIET MAY SEVER
MANCHUKU0 TIES
Japanese Expect Withdraw.
al of All ConSuIateS With
Exception of One.

(copyright, 1885. BY Associated Press)
TOXIC, February ia japanese
foreign Office spokesman said tonight
that information from Ssinking indi-
her consulates. except the consulate
general at Harbin, from Manchukuo.
Oficials said they believed the
Withdrawals were not connected with
the recent fights along the Man
chukuan borders and could not be
interpreted as a preparation for war.
They said that, instead, the Russian
action could be regarded as an out
come of the three-year dispute over
the desire Of the Japan-created en-
pire of Manchukuo to establish con-
sulates at Khabarovsk, Nikolskussa-
risk, Verkhneudinsk and Irkutsk In
addition to those established in 1888
at Blagovestchensk and Chita.
Equal Number Demanded.
Manchukuo pointed out that the
Soviet maintained consulates at Muk-
den (cloSed last week., Tsitsihar,
Heiho. Manchuli and Pogranichnaya
in addition to Harhin and demanded
an equal number in Russia.
The demands went unanswered until
last December, when Manchukuo
pressed insistently for action, leading
to the allegedly forthcoming move of
withdrawing the consulates.
japanese officials applied a partial
censorship today to japanese press ac-
counts of the dangerous situation ris-
ing from recent sanguinary military
clashes on the ill-deflned Manchukuo-
Outer Mongolia frontier.
The officials ordered the press not
to publish anything concerning the
issue except japanese and Manchu-
kuoan government communiques.
Public Opinion Feared.
The ban was attributed authorita-
lively to an official desire to avoid in
flaming public opinion, while a series
Of oficial conferences were started in
Toxic in search Of means to prevent
the border friction from developing
into q Russo-Japanese war.
Neither Toxic nor Hsinking, capital
OF the Japanese-advised state Of Man
chukuo. issued commmiques imme-
diately. after the Manchukuoan gov
ernment protested to the Outer Mon
golian peoples republic, demanding
immediate evacuation" OF Manchu-
kuoan territory.
A report from the japanese general
headquarters at Hsinking of Mongol
raids in the Lake Bor region reached
the Toxic war Office today and War
Minister Yoshiyuh Kawashima i'm
mediately conferred with his staff offi-
GERS.
High officials of the war Office and
foreign Office began an exchange of
information and opinions while the
general staff studied the situation.
Soviet Proposal Rejected.
Ofhcially, the war office and foreign
Office agreed in a conference to reject
Soviet proposal that neutrals be in
cluded in a joint commission which
the Japanese suggested be created to
hquidate Far Eastern border conflicts
Of January 20 and 80.
A foreign Office spokesman said:
I'VE hope the Soviet will withdraw
that suggestion, to permit early in
formation of a tripartite Japanese
Manchukuoan-S Soviet commission to
begin the task Of easing the border
situation"
Reports in one section of the Toxic
press that an element of the govern
ment favored negotiations with Rus
sia. seeking q short-term non-aggres-
sion treaty were denied emphatically
by the foreign ONCE spokesman.
He declared the Toxic governments
attitude was unchanged since 1t re-
jected the original Soviet proposals
for non-aggression agreement In
1882.
Hopes for Stability.
Prime Minister Keisuke >Okada. in .
campaign speech for the general
election February 40, asserted the
government hoped for "early estab-
lishment Of stability In East Asia
through readjustment Of relations be-
tween Japan, Manchukuo and Soviet
Russia"
The Manchukuan foreign ofice's
protest to Outer Mongolia, calling for
withdrawal Of Mongol forces allegedly
within Manehukuo, charged that such
forces were still occupying Man
chukuan territory on the shores Of
Lake Bor.