The Pittsburgh Press (July 23, 1941)
CHINESE REPORT JAP FLEET MOVING ON INDOCHINA
Chungking, July 23 (UP) –
Admiral Yang Huang-Cheng, chief of the intelligence bureau of the Chinese War Operations Bureau, said today that a large Japanese fleet and 30 troop transports had moved southward following French refusal of Japanese demands for air and naval bases in southern Indochina.
Yang said that the fleet consisted of seven large men o’war, three aircraft carriers and 55 destroyers. It was said to have steamed southward past Kyūshū, the largest of the southern Japanese islands, yesterday.
He said that 30 transports, escorted by three warships, moved southward off Hong Kong on July 18 after Vichy had resisted Japanese demands for air and naval bases at Saigon and at Cam Ranh Naval Base near Saigon.
Yang said he understood the French in Indochina were prepared to resist.
He said that if the Japanese succeeded in establishing bases in southern Indochina, they then would invade Thailand and British Burma.
Yang said the Japanese southward movement did not preclude the possibility of a Japanese drive northward into Siberia, since an invasion of southern Indochina would require few troops and could be accomplished largely by naval operations.