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B
British Shipping.
124. Interference with foreign and especially British shipping off the China coast became rapidly worse during April. Interference with the loading of British ships in the Yangtze delta had begun earlier in the year and showed no signs of discontinuance, intimidation being used by Japanese naval and military authorities to prevent Chinese from loading British ships. Between the 23rd and the 26th April six British ships were detained for flag verification purposes in the neighbourhood of Foochow, the ships detained including some which were well known to the Japanese, and about the British registry of which there was no doubt. On the 8th April a Japanese prize crew was placed on board the steamship Sagres, which was engaged in loading salt for the Chinese Government off Foochow, and the ship was taken off to the Pescadores. Representations by the commander-in-chief to the Japanese naval authorities to the effect that the ship was engaged in peaceful and legitimate trade failed to secure the release of the ship, but after a fortnight's detention and interrogation the crew were allowed to return to Hong Kong. The matter was still under discussion at the end of the month.
United States of America.
125 On the 30th March the United States Ambassador in Tokyo protested formally and emphatically to the Japanese Government against the continued disregard by the Japanese forces of American lives and property in China. Mr. Grew reminded the Japanese Government that, although United States nationals had taken voluntary measures to mark their property in China, there had been no less than 135 instances of Japanese aerial attacks endangering American lives and resulting in damage to American property which the United States Embassy had had to bring to the notice of the Japanese Government.
126. The U.S.S. Astoria arrived on the 17th April at Yokohama, bringing the ashes of Mr. Saito, late Japanese Ambassador in Washington. The officers and crew of the ship were overwhelmed with hospitality and expressions of appre- ciation, while the American Embassy was inundated with presents. The visit was exploited to the full in the Japanese press, and the arrangements for the funeral were both efficient and impressive; certain events which occurred at the same time, however, sounded a different note. For instance, Mr. Sumner Welles, the United States Under-Secretary of State, informed the press on the 20th April that he had protested to the Japanese Ambassador in Washington about the continued interference by the Japanese authorities with the movement of United States citizens in China, and the United States Ambassador in Tokyo made a similar protest on the 21st April. The transfer of the United States fleet to the Pacific from the Atlantic, which was announced on the 21st April, also received much notice of a surprisingly hostile kind in the Japanese press.
127. President Roosevelt's message to Hitler of the 15th April received lukewarm approval in Japanese newspapers, which eventually resorted to agree- ment with the Axis view that the message had been sent to the wrong address.
128. On the 27th April. Senator Key Pitman, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, introduced a resolution in the Senate which would empower the President to impose certain important restrictions on trade and credit transactions between the United States and any Power violating the Nine- Power Treaty. The resolution has aroused violent controversy in the United States.
Anti-Comintern Pact.
129. A series of meetings of the Five Ministers' Conference were held during April and created the impression that an announcement giving added force to the Anti-Comintern Pact was imminent. However, as in the previous month, nothing definite emerged and at the end of April the newspapers had it that no decision would be taken for another month.
Germany: Visit of German Journalists.
130. On the 27th April a party of German journalists, who are touring the Far East, arrived at Yokohama for a week's visit to Japan. The delegation, which consists of representatives of many leading German news agencies and newspapers, is returning the visit paid by a Japanese delegation to Germany in
1938.
German Flight to Tokyo.
131. A Luft-Hansa aeroplane left Berlin on the 22nd April, piloted by Baron von Gablenz, a director of the company, who is flying in easy stages to Tokyo. The object of the flight is said to be to collect data for the eventual estab- lishment of a German air service between Europe and the Far East.
Conditions of Life.
132. Mr. Ikuta Yasugi, a former member of the Japanese Embassy in Moscow, was quoted in the press as saying that the restaurants in Moscow served better food to their customers than those in Berlin. The necessary correction was made with exemplary promptitude, accompanied by a suitable expression of Mr. Yasugi's indignation at the misunderstanding.
Italy: Italian Exhibition.
133.
An Italian exhibition, sponsored by the Italian Embassy, the Italo- Japanese Cultural Institute and the Tokyo Nichi Nichi newspaper, was opened on the 12th April. The exhibits consisted mainly of illustrations of the extent and achievements of the Roman Empire and of modern Italy. The most impressive feature of the exhibition was a large room containing photographs of the activities of the Italian armed forces.
Occupation of Albania.
134. General Itagaki, the Minister of War, and Prince Kanin, the Chief of the General Staff, telegraphed to Signor Mussolini congratulating him on the annexation of Albania.
France: Spratley Islands.
135. The French Ambassador addressed a note to the Minister for Foreign Affairs on the 4th April protesting against the occupation of the Spratley Islands. The French Government, he said, could not recognise this action and did not regard it as in any way affecting French sovereignty over the islands.
136. On the 10th April His Majesty's Chargé d'Affaires left with the Minister for Foreign Affairs a note to the effect that His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom were unable to admit that the claim of the Japanese Government had any legal foundation and that they deplored the procedure adopted by them in this matter as it could only complicate still further the situa- tion in the Far East. In a reply, dated the 13th April, Mr. Arita stated that the Japanese Government found difficulty in understanding the basis for His Majesty's Government's representations since not only was the measure taken lawful and based on fact and upon law, but it also was a matter which concerned Japan and France. The Japanese Government also disagreed that the measure would further complicate the situation in the Far East.
137. The Official Gazette of the 18th April contained an order signed by the Governor-General of Formosa on the 30th March announcing the inclusion as from that date of the Spratley Islands within the jurisdiction of Takao City, Formosa.
China: Military Operations.
138. Much publicity was given to the Chinese so-called "April offensive." This operation, however, was treated with considerable ridicule by the Japanese press, which gave frequent accounts of invariably successful Japanese counter- attacks and costly Chinese losses.
Japanese Policy.
139. In a speech on the 11th April at the opening of a conference of the heads of Liaison Offices in China of the Asia Development Council, the Prime Minister stated that the Japanese Government had no intention of excluding or restricting unreasonably the economic activities and interests of third Powers beyond the extent necessary for Japan's national defence and her existence as a nation.
140. In a further speech on the 13th April Baron Hiranuma stated that, when the new régimes in China had expanded and were fully co-operating with
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