Restrictions Must Continue Even After General Traffic Resumes, Peers Told Tokyo, Feb. 18, SENJAVIGATION on the Yangtze River must be subjected to some restrictions even if it is opened to general traffic," the Navy Minister, Admiral Mitsumasa Yonai, declared in the House of Peers yesterday. The complete statement of Admiral Yonai in reply to interpellations by Mr. Katsuji Debuchi, former Ambassador in Washington, was released to the press today. "The Yangtze River of China is not the common property of foreign Powers," the Navy Minister said.
"To state the case more fully, foreign Powers enjoy the right of navigation on the Yangtze River which, however, is not an international river as stipulated by international law.
"Japan now is in a virtual Gen. Chiang Kai-shek in China. state of war with the regime of Besides the Yangtze River forms a strategic artery; therefore, if strategic necessity dictates there is no need for Japan to hesitate in closing the river. Should Japan close the Yangtze for military necessity foreign Powers would have no grounds to take exception thereto.
"Only when the requirements of military necessity have been modified can the opening of the Yangtze River be considered.
"Considered from the economic viewpoint, the Yangtze forms the economic artery of China; consequently its opening certainly would make a great contribution to the amelioration of Chinese economic conditions and also the construction of a new order in East Asia.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.