Addressing—the parliamentary group, the Premier, P ince Konoye, Said ihat with the issuance of the statement the China incident had entered its second stage, much graver than the preceding one Ever since the start df hostiliies," he is reported to have said, the Japanese Government has been hoping that General Chiang Kaishek's administration would recon sider its attitude and change it accordingly.
"It became clear after the fall of Nanking, however, that under the pressure of internal and external factors, the Nationalist Government had neither enough power nor sincerity to establish peace in the Far East.
"The Japanese Government was then compelled, with grave determination, to take steps which marked the advent of the second stage of the imeident.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.