Construction by the United States of 45,000-ton battleships will mean "the start of a naval race," Rear-
Admiral Masao Kanazawa, spokesman for the Ministry of the Navy said here today replying to questions of foreign correspondents regarding reported American shipbuilding plans.
The Japanese Navy, he added, was watching the situation with grave concern.
Asked if the Japanese Navy regarded the American fleet as "Public Enemy No. 1," Rear-Admiral Kanazawa said that "the Japanese Navy never regards any specific navy as its enemy." The Japanese naval policy, he explained, was guided by the principle of non-menace and n expounded since at the abortive Naval conference of 1935.—Domei.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.