Hanoi, Feb. 28.
Japanese residents throughout French Indo-China, numbering approximately 400, today again prepared for evacuation en masse following stand-by orders issued by the Japdhese Consular authorities on Thursday under instructions from Tokyo.
This is the second time in six months that Japanese civilians in Indo-China have packed. up under orders from the home government, a mass evacuation having taken place on August 22 last year before the eleventh hour French acceptance of Japan's request to station troops in Hanoi, Meanwhile, French authorities m Indo-China were authoritatively reported to be adhering to the decisions reached at the emergency conference convened by Governor-General Vice-Admiral Jean Decoux on Wednesday. It is understood that the meeting decided to oppose. any large-scale partitioning of Indo-China, Well-informed sources attributed this stand- to. the belief on the part of French Indo-China that British and American pressure will restrain Japan against resorting to forcible measures to enforce its compromise formula presented to France and Thailand on Monday.
The same quarters believed that the French authorities in Indo-China will not revisestheir attitude unless ordered to do so by the Vichy government, or compelled to do so by an overwhelming Japanese force.—Domei.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.