Judging from reports recently appearing in Japan papers the main concern of the conference now in progress at Changchun was to reach a final liquidation of the Japanese occupation of Siberia.
Japan had} announced her withdrawal from the territory, but on going she perfectly naturally desired to come to some arrangement with the Far Eastern Republic for the carrying on of trade where possible and diplomatic intercourse when necessary. There was further the Nikolaievsk affair, the Red outbreak when so many Japanese were massacred, to discuss, and if not to settle, at least to find some formula for coming to an arrangement in the future. In view of the probable demand of a heavy indemnity for this affair, the Eastern Republic are understood to have compiled a bill for Japan to foot showing the amount of damage Siberia had suffered as a result of the Japanese occupation, Even with these matters there seemed some chance of getting through the work of the conference in reasonable time and with some Measure of success,.but within the past day or two the reverse has appeared the case. Mr. Joffe, with his lieutenant Mr. Jansen, is there, and not puly does he represent the Far Eastern Republic but Moscow. As was to be expocte he is not so much concerned in the immediate business before the conference as in seeing what advantage he can get out of it for the whole of Bolshevik Russia. He aims at inveigling Japan into some sort of treaty with the Soviet, and hit early suggestions towards this end almost immediately caused a hitch, The matter is not yet cleared up, for while the Japanese delegates insist that only matters connect al with the territory bordering the Far Eastern Republic shall be considered, Mr. Joffe is equally determined to bring in the whole of Russia. As matters stand, the Eastern News Agency states that it is quite probable that the Japanese delegates will now be compelled to ask for further instructions from their government.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.