Evening star., 1941-12-02

of an overt act DAVID Lawrence
that can at any moment end the
discussions and conversations be-
tween the two governments. |
AS long as the diplomats talk,
there is hope of peace. Documents
and memoranda will continue TO be
exchanged for a while longer. May
be in the course of those parleys a
formula will be found and maybe at
the end of the talks some other |
steps will be interposed which will |
maintain peaceful relations on a
day-to-day or week-to-week basis.
What is regrettably absent in this
crisis is something that has always /.
been urged as one of the saving .
eraces of democracy-an intelligent |
and informed public opinion, with a
will to peace on both sides.
Hazy on Issues.
Neither the Japanese nor Ameri !
can peoples know the issues involved |
except in an abstract sense. In ia
pan a censorship of the press pre-
vents the American viewpoint from
being accessible to the japanese |
people In the United States, Japa-
nese spokesmen are handicapped by
the bellicose talks back home and
by the movement of troops and
naval vessels by Japan to positions
In and around French Indo-China, |
which strategy seems to be encir-
cling the Philippines at the same
time.
If there is to be war, it will start
under strange auspices. The Amer
lean people have no hate in their
hearts for the japanese. For gen.
erations a mutual admiration has
been developing between the two
countries and, despite the differ
ences in language and customs, some
warm friendships have sprung up
between japanese and Americans.
There is, of course, the element
Of diStruSt on both sides. The Nazis
have been carrying on their in
tri2ue in Toxic and stirring up
antagOnism against everything |
American. There are in America
many persons of anti-Japanese bias
who have held up TO suspicion every
thing Japan does.
When. therefore, the militarist
group in Toxic carries on military
and naval movements on vast
scale IN the area of Indo-China and
Thailand at the very time that dis
oussionS are going on in Washing
ton, the task is made doubly difficult
for those japanese liberals and
Americans who are fundamentally
convinced that a peace plan can be
consummated.
Can Work Together.
Japan and the United States could
work together in the Pacific They
did it effectively in 1917 and 1918.
Japan knows in her inner con-
science that Hitler can never be of
permanent aid to Japan in her de-
velopment as world power Japan
knows, moreover, that naval powers
must stick together or extinguiSh one
another and that with the relatively
small steel industry in Japan the
Nippon Navy can hardly hope to
outbuild or outstrip the British
American naval power.
This is entirely aside from the
bravery and fighting ability of the
japanese. which is conceded. What
Is more important is that Japan and
the United States have no sound
reason for going to war and they
have many sound reasons for being
allied.
The question of what part China
shall play in settlement is ever
present. Sympathizers with China
insist that America cannot appease
Japan at the expense of China.
There is no need for material injury
to the permanent interests of any
of the three powers. What can be
done to straighten out the Far East
ern situation by a policy of economic
realism on the part of Japan and
the United States and Britain is
we'll known. But is there a will and
determination to put all else aside
except the oblective-to beat Hitler?
Formula Possible.
The japanese know that America
Is as anxious to crush Hitler as are
the British. The japanese have a
certain weight that can be thrown
into the scales today. The japanese,
however. do not wish to be treated
as a third-rate power but as an
equal partner in the Pacific The
pride of the japanese is involved as
deeply as are any questions of po-
litical sovereignty. Some ingenious
statesmen in Toxic, London or
Washington can surely develop the
formula that will end the Sino-
japanese war and at the same time
put Japan in the world picture as
an ally of Britain and America.
II will require concessions on all
sides and perhaps even scrapping
of some of the academic arguments
that have been used in the past
Japan has made certain strides by
means that are not approved in
America. Can assurances as to the
future be placed on basis that will
invite American faith and co-opera-
ton hereafter? The japanese know
full well what is the underlying cause
of today's misunderstanding. They
can help to find the way out and If
necessary the United States can
send an American of the Kurusu
type to Japan to place our view be-
fore the Japanese government to
H. ~