The verbatim account of the interview Which Prince Konoye, Japanese Prime Minister, granted to the Press last week, has now come to hand, and throws an interesting: light on Japanese intentions vis-à-vis of the Chinese Government. More particularly the phrase that Japan will "cease to deal with" the national Government of China is given its full interpretation, and it is apparent from what Prince Konoye says that it has in the Japanese view, a much greater significance than wes at first understood. The Prince was asked:
The Government's statement said the Government hereafter will have no dealings with the National Government. The phrase "cease to deal with" is being interpreted in various ways. What is the real meaning?
Answer. It means that hitherto we have been regarding the National Government as the other party in possible peace negotiations and have accordingly been studying the details of peace terms but that hereafter we shall have nothing to do with it and shall sever all relations with it. It means that we shall look to the establishment of a new regime in China for our negotiations to regulate Sino-Japanese relations. In our determination to crush the National Government by armed action, we have undergone no change.
This is reinforced by a statement on the same day by Mr. Akira Kazami, chief secretary to the Cabinet in which he says "The Japanese decision to cease to deal with the National Government means that it—the Japanese Government—is committed irrevocably td the judgment that the National Government does not represent the Chinese State and to the decision to continue the holy war agafhst this anti-Japanese regime for the sake of lasting peace in East Asia. Thus the term cease to deal with' is stronger than even a declaration of war." These two statements should serve to remove any misunderstanding as to Japan's present intentions, for diplomatically it means that in Japan's eyes there is no authority with which to negotiate peace except the provisional regime which is being set up in north China, and which may become the nucleus of the government, which Japan contemplates establishing in the areas under her occupation.
It may seem very extraordinary that Japan should consider that it wipes out a Government merely by refusal to have anything to do with it, but in order to see exactly what Prince Konoye has in his mind, it is necessary to take another excerpt from the interview:—
Q. Even if the National Government should sue for peace, do you intend to refuse any dealings with it and incorporate it in the new regime?
A. Tf the National Government should abandon its traditional policies completely and submit; to the rule of the new regime, there would be no problem any longer, but in that case it would not be a matter between China and Japan but something to be adjusted between the National Government and the new regime. What Japan wants is merely to have more reasonable regime to deal with. That's all.
If Alice was only a little surprised at the manner.in which the Cheshire cat faded away, there need be no astonishment at Japan's apparent belief that she can fade out the Natignalist Government by a mere stroke of the pen. Should she succeed in justifying that belief an anomalous state of affairs will be produced. Japan will set up an autonomy which she and perhaps one or two other countries will recognize, while there will still be existence, no matter how much Tokyo may consider: it has disappeared, a regime recognized by the rest of the Powers. The parallel is to be found in the civil war in Spain.. One set of Powers recognize the rebels and the others the Republican Government. Certain nations assist rebels against the government and then proceed to give them the rights attendant upon a sovereign integrity which the insurgents have not yet attained.; The, apalogy is not quite complete, for in the case: of China there has been no foreign assisted rebellion, but the conduct of hostilities against a government in full control of the country, the occupation of certain areas by the Japanese, the setting up of a new government, not very successfully up ta the present it must be admitted—and the declaration in effect that Japan's mission is to crush what amounts to a rebellion led against it by Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek. This is all very difficult for the Occidental mind to follow, but it has about it all the: attributes of Oriental ingenuity. Prince "Konoye has in fact announced on the part of his Government that the only means of bringing peace to China is for Chiang Kai-shek and his party to mend their ways and submit to the very attenuated authority which Japan has established in north China, or may set up in other parts of this country. The autonomy set up in Peiping is but a shadow. There is considerable reluctance on the part of prominent Chinese to participate, and much more hesitation to ce-operate. It certainly does not represent the people and is merely an instrument for the carrying out of Japanese will. Prince Konoye's statements will deceive nobody. The claim"that what has taken place is more serious than a declaration of war is to be taken for what it is worth. The attempted destruction of a government is nothing but war, no matter how many of the preliminary formalities have been ignored. That government has not yet been destroyed. Despite the defeats it has suffered there is still a chance that it never will be. Indeed it hopes so to prolong the struggle that Japan, herself, will be obliged to ask for terms. Should that position arise it will make Prince Konoye's declarations more than a little premature, and perhaps embarrassing, for nothing could be more awkward than to have to open negotiations with an organization which the other side has definitely declared does not exist. Fortunately declarations made during the prosecution of hostilities very often amount to very little indeed when the reality of the necessity for peace ultimately forces itself on the combatants, 4
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.