There had been several cases when Japanese forces had been subjected te fire from vessels flying third party flags, the spokesman went on, when questioned in connection with the stopping and searching of the French liner Aramis. He added that a protest had been received from the French authorities and a reply had been sent which was similar to the views expressed at the press conference on Monday.
The note, he continued, placed emphasis on the possibility of Japenese "inspections of a vessel's status with the exception of vessels whose status was clearly determined or which were unlikely to be used for military purposes by the Chinese. When informed that the status of the Aramis had been made as clear as it was possible to do so, the spokesman replied, "Regardless of the size of the ship if it is considered suspicious its status will be investigated. Ships familiar to this district, however, probably will not be stopped again."
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.