Anglo-American Joint Plan of Action Denied Tokyo, Feb. 3.
"There was n" truth that Japan and Italy were exchanging building plans," declared the Navy spokesman at a press conference to-day. There was no justification either for the rumours that Japan and Italy were exchanging views on the situation in the Far East and in the Mediterranean, The spokesman went on to say that the estimate made by Admiral Willian D. Leahy, American Chief of Naval Operations, that Japan would have fourteen capital ships when her programme was completed, must have been built up in his own imagination.
Some powers, he commented, seemed to take, unwarrantably, the special situation in the Far East as a reason for increasing their naval programmes, "It" he said, "we feel that our national defence is endangered, and if there appear very strong military establishments in the Near and Far East or an íncrease in armaments Which we look upon as a menace to our national security, then Japan is bound to increase her armaments."
"Japan," he added, "must always be prepared."—Reuter.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.