Aug. 12.
The Foreign Secretary, Mr. Anthony Eden, revealed during last week "that the British Government was disturbed over the discrepancy between the peaceful declarations ofthe Japanese Government and the bellicose statements of the Japanese press. "He remarked that these latter bore a resemblance 16 the charges and accusations which used to precede aggressions by the Nazis in Europe and expressed concern on that account. Yhough Mr, Eden's statement was clear enough both in what he actually said and in what he implied, there has been no improvement in the tone of the Japanese comments and news stories concerning 'Thailand and Indo-China, If anything, the accusations against Britain' and the United States have become more extravagant than before. many foreigners, not only Anglo-Saxons, they are dificult to understand owing to strange mixture of slogans with which they are: interlarded—slogans such as "immutable Policy," "life lines," "encirclement," the "new order in East Asia," and the "East Asia coprosperity sphere." There have also been "references to the geographical responsibility, of Japan for the economic development her neighbours in the Far East and for the preservation of their sovereignty which have confused the issue still further. It seems strange to some people that the Japanese press should claim geographical responsibil ties for territories two thousand or more: miles away, and not for territories like the Soviet Murilime Provinces which are just next door, While it may be that difficulties in translation account for part of the obscurity' of the slogans being used by the Tokyo press, there is unhappily something so Nazi about: the claims of geographical responsibilities..and the rights which a nation's position on map give to it, that there can be little doubt whence comes' the inspiration for this line of reasoning. Geographical position carries with-it certain advantages or disadvantages, J¢ but certainly confers no rights on one nation at the expense of another.
Owing tothe control of thought and of expression of opinion which is exercised in Japan, the Japanese Government cannot altogether shrug off the responsibility for the Brovocative views and distortions of fact which are printed in the metropolitan newspapers. In countries where there is little or no control, such as the United States and Britain, "the' Government can justly, claim that it has nothing to do with the more lurid opinions expressed by the newspapers. But where control exists, there is some excuse for regarding the press og the alter-ego of the official spokesman—fan alter ego which can be repudiated or contradicted at will, but whose existence has definitely to be taken into account by other nations in the calculation of their policies. In circumstances. like this a press which
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.