Asked if Mr, Kinkichi Yoshizawa, chief Japanese economic delegate now in Batavia negotiating with Netherlands East Indies officials, would return shotty io Japan because of delayed N.E.I. negotiations, Mr. Matsuoka replied that signs of improvement in negotiations were seen recently He said the improvement might have been due to the effect of the Soviet-Japanese neutrality pact, Asserting that Mr, Yoshizawa was not likely to be short tempered with NEI authorities,. Mr. Matsuoka said that "it is my conviction that we should not take advantage of the other party's weakness, when the other party becomes weak, and snatch things from it by force. This I shall never do. This also will be applied to French Indo-China."
Because of the conclusion of the neutrality pact, he said, negotiations with Russia on trade, fisheries and border, demarcation, were progressing favourably, Mr, Matsuoka said he was determined to tackle diplomacy concerning settlement of the "China Affair" with full responsibility. Although he was non-committal, Mr. Matsuoka inferred that he discussed that subject with M. Joseph Stalin in Moscow,—United Press, Australia Tests New Powerful Bomber Melbourne, May 5.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.