Informed circles here discount any danger to General Chiang Kai-shek from any Japanese attempt to occupy Indo-China, It is pointed out that the Japanese army has proved incapable of reaching the Indo-China border on the Chinese side, and it is believed that the chances of reaching the Yunnan border from Indo-China are very dificult because of the rugged terrain and the fact that Chinese troops, now massed on the Yunnan border, will probably enter French territory to occupy strategic defensive positions.
There is speculation here how Berlin would view a Japanese attack on Indo-China, for while the Nazis obviously would welcome any Japanese attack on British soil or interests in the Far East, they might not welcome an attack on a colonial possession which might fall to Germany as a result of the defeat of France, On the balance, it appears to an observer here that Japan has more to lose than to gain by any ill-judged attack on—Indo-China—Reuter
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.