London, Dec. 21, The Washington correspondent of "The Times" says today that the formal promise, made by Mr. Hachiro Arita, Japanese Foreign Minister, of "vast fields of commercial and economic activity," that are, ultimately, to open to other Powers in China, is by no means a convincing rejoinder to the United States' charges of discrimination against American trade.
The Government, continues the correspondent, has no intention of accepting a policy of the fait accompli. The granting of credits to China may be only the first step in a policy capable of development, but it remains for President Roosevelt's message to Congress to throw light on this.
Every scrap of evidence, the correspondent points out, tends to show that President Roosevelt will devote a good deal of this communication to relations of the United States with the outer world, and that he is devoting much time to a study of the various matters involved.
The position of China d Japan is only one of these matters, "The Times" correspondent adds. He says that there are powers vested in the President, under existing legislation, which permit him to place an embargo on imports from countries which flagrantly discriminate against American trade.
It is not likely, the correspondent concludes, that the President will be dissuaded from using them by a promise of "vast fields of activity" at an undetermined date.—Reuter.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.