Evening star., 1943-12-03
Psychic Stokes in Asia

s'S SsSNSS III NSbo
Not the least important aspect Of
the tripartite Cairo conference is
its effects upon the psychological
mponderables" throughout the Far
East. The text of the agreement
arrived at by the participants, short
and pithy in form. is packed with
psychic dynamite. Britain, China
and the United States formally
announce their war aims toward the
Toxic end of the Axis in way
which renders a fight to a finish
inevitable. The japanese people now
know that defeat spells the loss of
all they have worked and sacrificed
for since the beginning of the Meiji
Era some 80 years ago, when Japan
emerged from its hermit isolation
and concentrated intenSively on
becoming a great power" in the
Western sense of the term They
are to be stripped of all their terri
torial gains and will be cooped up in
their home islands, which have a
combined area smaller than that of
California. Disarmed and deprived
of control over most raw materials
needed for large scale modern in
dustry, they will be overshadoWed by
victorious China elevated to the
status of a political and economic
colossus That is situation which
will render almost unthinkable any
recovery Of military or economic
strength. Japan will be automati-
cally dwarfed to the status OF
second or third rate nation. It will
have lost forever its vision of empire.
All this will be made frenzied use
OF by the Toxic warlords. Every
japanese will realize as never before
that his destiny is at stake. What
ever "moderates" may exist in Japan
will henceforth renounce all hope of
a negotiated settlement and support
the program of total war The ia
natical spirit of this naturally belli-
cose people will be famed to new
heights Of reckless fury. Tojo's aim
to forge the "Yamato race" into a
living ball of fire. will have been
attained.
This was undoubtedly understood
by the conferees at Cairo. Why,
then, did they so grimly show their
hand? The answer would seem to
lie in the psychological gains which
will accrue to them everywhere else
in the Far East. Throughout the
Orient, face" or prestige is factor
OF enormous Importance The mere
fact that the Allied big three" have
solemnly decreed the destruction of
imperial Japan will reverberate in
the remotest parts of Asia, hearten-
ing hundreds of millions of people
either subjected to the japanese
yoke or fighting desperately to avoid
such subjugation. The net benefits
OF this psychological stroke should
outweigh Japan's heightened deter
mination to resist unto death.
Especially is this true in China.
The situation there, after seven
years OF terrible war strain, is far
more critical than is generally
known to the world at large. Chang
Kai-shek and his patriot associates
have been hard put to it to keep up
popular morale In other words,
they have been steadily losing
face" The promises Of national
greatness and permanent eradica-
ton of the japanese oppressor will
give tremendous lift to the Chinese
and should restore the waning pres
tige of the Chungking government.
Conversely, it will tend to under
mine the confidence of Japan's
puppet regimes in China and else
where, who have bowed to the con-
queror for corrupt, selfish reasons
and would be the first to desert
Nippon's sinking ship of state. Fur
thermore, it will intensity the rebel
llous activities of underground" pa
triotic groups in Korea, Manchuria,
the Philippines and elsewhere.
Provided the Allies make good their
death sentence on imperial Japan
by shattering blows in the near
future, the psychological impact of
the Cairo pronouncement should be
very great. And it is unlikely that
the Allies would have spoken so
decisively unless they are prepared
to make good their undertakings.
The hySterical, suicidal mania of
the japanese soldier. proved on
TaraWa, Attu, Guadalcanal and
many other fields of combat, can be
counted on to persist regardless of
losses or reverses. The japanese
will presumably have to be killed of
by the million before their Sun of
Empire sets forever. But this would
have been true if the Cairo confer
ence had not been held. japan
militant would have gone down