THE FAR EASTERN CRISIS



vations always in the back of Japanese minds, in connection with
their abiding by their treaty obligations in good faith. At the end
of the talk Mr. Hirota had spoken of the difficulties of the Batavia
conference much like a school master giving a lecture to a recalcitrant
pupil and both General Pabst and the correspondent agreed after-
wards that there was a distinctly spiteful tone in the Minister's
remarks.
  General Pabst said that Mr. Sugimura, the newly appointed Japa-
nese Ambassador to Italy, asked to come to see him before departing
for Rome which General Pabst thought rather surprising and signifi-
cant because Japanese Ambassadors do not generally call on Minis-
ters, and he thought that Mr. Sugimura had probably come to see
him at the behest of the Foreign Office. In the course of their con-
versation the subject of the rumors of an Anglo-Japanese rapproche-
ment came up and General Pabst inquired what Sugimura thought
would be the basis of such an understanding if it could be arranged.
Sugimura, after much hemming and hawing, said that Japan might
be willing to agree to British trade predominance in South China in
return for an agreement to leave Japan free in the rest of China.
General Pabst said, "how about the Yangtze where British interests
are predominant?" Sugimura said "no", but that Japan would
rec-
ompense England by leaving the Indian market free for British
goods exclusively. (In this connection General Pabst said that at the
Batavia conference the Japanese had observed that Holland would
of course be permitted to dispose of some of its goods in the Dutch
East Indies!)
  Sugimura then asked the Minister for a letter of introduction to the
Dutch Minister in Rome. General Pabst thought this was an unusual
procedure and explained it to himself on the grounds that the Dutch
Minister in Rome is accredited to the League of Nations and Sugimura
wished through him to keep in touch with developments at Geneva.
  General Pabst is now inclined to feel that the talk of an Anglo-
Japanese rapprochement was a ballon d'essai on the part of Hirota.
General Pabst thinks that the only hope of curbing Japan's ambitions
to completely dominate East Asia is Anglo-American solidarity. If
we were to agree to the Japanese proposals and scrap our battleships,
large cruisers and air plane carriers, Japan would be perfectly free in
future to carry out her plans. This is obviously the basis of her posi-
tion in the naval conversations. If England and America work to-
gether and develop a solid front, Japan will eventually be obliged to
climb down and the Japanese Government will then set about to
remould public opinion in such a way that it will be able to climb
down without too much loss of face.



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