Dec. 7.
Mr. Shigeru -Kawazoe has rendered a service to his country by his frank and courageous dis closure of the change of mind which has developed from his contacts with the Chinese Government at Nanking as Ambassador, on promotion from his former post of Consul-General at Tientsin, He now holds that Japan must acquire a now concept of modern China if the two nations are to come to.an understanding, Japan should render full honours to the devotion to duty of certain Chinese ofliials especially the younger ones.
His Excellency does not regard the negotiations between the two countries as having broken down. Accord has been reached on certain points: others remain open for further discussion. The outbreak in Suiyuan has not unnaturally todueed complications and has fended to stiffen the Chinese attitude, Even then Mr. Kawagoe refused to be pessimistic, but it is significant that he is impelled to prescribe a radical reversal of the frame of mind in which, judging from actions and words, Japanese policy in China has hitherto been directed, There is no reason to think that the temporary check in the discussions will lead directly to an impasse, The mere fact that Mr. Kawagoe has thus spontaneous ly paid tribute to Nanking's good faith is encouraging, Mr, Kawagoe has evidently taken up the line of his predecessor, Mr. Akira Ariyoshi, whose sympathetic appreciation of the Chinese Government's cliff culties found expression in a fare~ well message before he Jeff China and now may be taken as the text for the brief statement given to Domei by the present Ambassador. It is greatly to be hoped that the Japanese Government will be able to give so important a pronouncement its proper consideration. "It should help to remove some of the main obstacles to a free and cordial ap~ praisement of Sino-Japanese relationships.
Much depends, of course, on the extent to which the Govern ment at Tokyo can bring its me fluence to bear on the heads of the fighting services. The situation in Suiyuan is not healthy, for the pretence that the Mongolian and Manchoukwan invaders are fighting the anti-Communist battle is too thin for acceptance. The weather happily sets a limit on the activities of both sides, but the question which is being asked is what will happen when that handicap is re~ ved and the supporters of the invasion feel that their prestige demands a return to the attack in out memory of the will not be slow to point out to his Government the presence of three divisions of Central Government troops in support of the provincial forees of Suiyuan, so there is reason to argue that Tokyo may be chary of overstraining the diplomatic fiction which enables the Chinese Government to note that Japan disclaims official association with the Mongol-Man choukuo force, equipped though it be with Japanese advice and material, The situation in Tsingtao seems to be yielding to the tact and firmness of Admiral Shen Hui lich, who is acting with the full authority of Nanking, and to the good sense of the Japanese authori~ ties on the spot. It has been stated that certain requirements been presented by Government at Nanking and not been received in the diplomatic sense by General Chang Chun. This, according to Mr. Kawagoe, merely means that on certain points of detail the Chinese Government has not accepted the Japanese version of the agreed proposals.
However that may be, it is clear
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.