Japan and Australia
The new Japanese Foreign Minister, Mr. Hitoshi Ashida,.has now followed the Prime Minister with a statement to the Press in which he said, among other things, that Japan looked forward to greater industrialisation, but that the goods produced would not be allowed to flood world markets, since they would be consumed at home. The beautiful simplicity of this last statement is almost as touching as the revelation that Japan wished to have the Ryukyu Islands restored " for sentimental reasons." If, before giving positive proof of a real change of heart, Japan really did get these islands, together with the Kuriles and other islands, which Mr. Ashida also wanted, and Formosa, which was less conspicuously claimed by an official of the Japanese Foreign Office, the reasons would certainly have their sentimental side. Fortunately, despite General MacArthur's peculiar
mode of self-expression, American policy is fundamentally realistic, as the recent arrangements for the resumption of private trade with Japan plainly show. It is also unlikely that the American authori- ties will succumb to the invitation already extended in certain Japanese quarters to a dog-fight with the Soviet Union in which Japan would be tertius gaudens. The Australian policy is as firm as the American and much more plainly stated. In the past week the Minister of Defence, Mr. Dedman, has outlined a defence policy which provides for a much bigger establishment and expenditure than before the war. The Minister for External Affairs, Dr. Evatt, has also outlined the Australian attitude to the peace terms and made it clear that, although the establishment of democracy in Japan is regarded as a possibility, for the time being control will have to be applied to all branches of Japanese affairs right down to such matters as civil aviation and whale fishing. And there is news that the arrangements for joint Pacific defences with the United States are now entering the stage of detailed discussion. At the same time there are some Australian misgivings lest matters which are best dealt with in the peace treaty should be settled in advance of it. This example of vigilance deserves to be widely followed.
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