"It was to remove this cancer in order to clear up the atmosphere in North China that we resorted to searching and questioning at the concession borders," Gen. Sugiyama told Japanese correspondents in an interview at his headquarters here yesterday "The British appear to be disseminating propaganda that the questioning and searching at the concession borders constitutes an infringement upon the rights of third-party Powers and that the alleged prohibition against the transportation of foodstuffs is a grave matter on humanitarian grounds. It seems to me that when Britain adopted policies favouring Chiang Kai-shek by completely ignoring the new state of affairs, she automatically forfeited her rights. As to the question of foodstuffs, we are prepared to extend all facilities in our power to facilitate their transportation," the Japanese commander-in-chief declared.
Japan, Gen, Sugiyama stated, had no intention of occupying the British Concession by force of arms "Chinese and other third party nationals appear to inconvenienced by the measures taken against the Bri-but we must ask them to be ut for the sake of peace and order in North China," he added. Domei.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.