Warnings to Japan
The intentions of Japan, at the moment of writing, are still obscure, though feeling has been worked up to fever-heat and the public has been led to expect further action in pur- suance of the expansionist policy. More troops have been moved into Indo-China and some of them concentrated on the Thailand frontier ; and the reinforcements of the army in Manchukuo are formidable. The Japanese Government has no reason to doubt that any further aggression will be met by Britain and the United States " move for move." There can surely be no misunderstanding of the frank statements made by Mr. Eden and Mr. Cordell Hull, backed up by resolute warnings from Mr. Menzies in Australia. There will be no climb-down by the Government of Thailand as there was by the weak-kneed Government of Indo-China. The former is determined to defend neutrality to the last. The Governments concerned have made it abundantly clear that a threat to Thailand concerns the security of Singapore, the Philippines, the Netherlands East Indies, and Australia. The outworn Japanese argument that the United States and Britain have aggressive designs against Japan and Thailand has been impressively shown up by the Japanese Minister in Washington, who stated in an interview with the Nichi Nichi that the United States desires friendly relations with Japan but will take counter-measures one by one to each step that she makes. If the Japanese militarists have been relying on bluff it must be clear to them that the move has failed. But they have very nearly burned all their bridges, and the outlook remains
