TOKYO SEES SOVIET TREATY AS BLOW TO AMERICA
By H. O. Thompson, United Press staff writer
Tokyo, April 15 –
Japanese regarded their “neutrality” treaty with Russia today as a blow to the United States.
They believed it secured Japan’s northern defenses enabling the government to devote more attention elsewhere. A bolder attitude toward America was expected to result from the treaty signed in Moscow yesterday by Foreign Minister Yōsuke Matsuoka, and some observers said it might intensify Japan’s moves in the South Sea.
The newspaper Nichi Nichi said the treaty eliminated Japan’s deal strategy of having to guard against both the United States and Russia which had been her main drawback in the so-called Pacific crisis, and that Japan now could concentrate on her southward program.
Also, Nichi Nichi said, the treaty offered a chance to dispose of the China affair,
….because it is only proper that the neutrality provisions will be applied and will eliminate Soviet assistance to China.
The newspaper Yomuri said the treaty was:
….a great shock to the world when the United States entry into the European war is imminent.
….and that it was a “poignant blow” to Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek’s Chinese government.
American moves thwarted
The general opinion was that what were regarded here as recent American attempts to woo Russian friendship had suffered a setback by the treaty.
Asahi said the provision in the treaty whereby Japan respected the integrity of the Outer Mongolian People’s Republic and Russia respected the integrity of Manchukuo, eliminated causes of dispute,
…and means that Japan and Russia have revealed a policy devoted to the maintenance of peace in the Far East.
Premier Prince Fumimaro Konoe said he believed the pact:
….will serve as the basis of a rapid solution, in a concrete manner, of various pending Soviet-Japanese questions, and will contribute greatly toward the promotion of world peace.
It was believed that Japan’s next step would be to attempt to settle the China affair by Soviet mediation. Russia could put pressure on Chiang Kai-shek to amalgamate with Wang Jingwei, head of the Japanese-supported Nanking regime, under liberal terms, and end the fighting which will enter its fifth year in July and which is tightening the Japanese people’s belts acutely.
Chiang may keep power
Japan would be satisfied, it was said, if Chiang Kai-shek renounced his anti-Japanese policy and Comintern (Communist International) connections, and agreed to economic co-operation with Japan. Under such a plan, it was believed, Chiang Kai-shek might be permitted to retain jurisdiction over Central and South China, under Japanese supervision, while forsaking North China, and Japan might give the same promise it gave Wang Jingwei, to evacuate its troops within two years.
Wang Jingwei might be “induced” by Japan to yield the supreme administrative post in China to Chiang Kai-shek “for the sake of China’s peace,” it was said.
Regardless of other considerations, it was believed the treaty would hasten the settlement of pending Japanese-Russian problems and possibly lead to a commercial treaty including traffic arrangements, giving Japan cheaper rates on the Trans-Siberian railroad. The railway is increasingly important to Japan’s importation of machinery and other supplies from Europe, especially from Germany and Sweden, since blockades have cut off other means of transportation.