Japan's Monroe Doctrine The. effects of Japan's domination by the
military party are discussed at some length in an article on a later • page of this issue. Since it was written sinister confirmation of its general thesis has come to hand in the form of a sudden proclamation by the Japanese Foreign Office of a Monroe Doctrine over China. The language used was vague, as is the habit with Japanese communications, but it appears to be a challenge to any international consortium proposing to finance Chinese loans, and equally to the League of Nations, to which China should look properly and primarily for external advice and assistance both technical and financial. The United States comes not less within the field of fire. The declaration recalls inevitably the notorious twenty-one demands of 1915 and there is all too much ground for the sombre reflection that it is the natural sequence to the impotent handling of the Manchurian situation by this and other countries assembled at Geneva in 1931. What Japan's actual intentions are is not clear, but it is essential that they be met by the whole world with a united front. The declaration makes it more necessary than ever that European .States should settle their own differences, and that Russia should be given all reasonable encourage- ment to join the League of Nations.
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