Stating that "as a matter of reality belligerent operations were going on against China," the naval spokesman at the Japanese press conference yesterday replied to questioning by a correspondent, who pointed out that Japanese action in detaining and searching ships of Third Party Powers amounted almost to a claim for belligerent rights, in spite of the fact that there had been no declaration of war.
The questions arose following a statement by the spokesman to the effect that the British freighter, s.
which had been detained at Chefoo, with the s. Taisang, had been released by the authorities at IChefoo. Asked when the Mingsang od been released, the spokesman lied, "probably yesterday.
Answering a question as to the reason for the detention of the Mingsang, the spokesman replied that, as stated on Wednesday, it was for the purpose of establishing her status. Replying to a questioner, who enquired what would be the position on the high seas, in view of the fact that all ships detained so far had been in Chinese ports, the spokesman stated that it had been the practice to carry out the detention of vessels within the territorial waters of China,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.