New Charge By Spokesman In Tokyo to Support Flat Refusal to Open Yangtze Tokyo, Nov. 17.
Foreign merchantmen operating in Chinese waters are secretly supplying Chinese troops and guerillas with arms and ammunition, a spokesman for the Navy Ministty charged today.
Such activities, he said, were being carried on without the knowledge of the Governments whose. flag the ships were flying.
The spokesman cited these alleged operations and the wish of the Japanese naval authorities to prevent any possible international com~ plications as additional reasons for the refusal of the Japanese authorities to allow the passage of third-party vessels on the Yangtze at the present time.
Under orders of the Government, the commander-in-chief of the Japanese naval forces on the Yangtze was now doing "everything in his power" to avoid international complications, the spokesman said.
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