The Powers and Japan The military operations in the Far
East in the past week have consisted of stalemate at Shanghai, where the Chinese are resisting the Japanese attack with almost complete success, and sweeping Japanese victories in the north, where something like a Chinese debeicle is taking place ; having regard to the immense superiority of the Japanese arms and equipment that is not surprising. Japan is in a 'position to occupy vast territories. Whether she can hold them is another matter ; there are further persistent reports of serious revolts in Manchukuo. More important have been the diplomatic developments and social reactions in Europe . and America. The Nine-Power Conference is to be held at Brussels at a date which is not yet fixed, and its imminenc is causing Japan manifest uneasiness. She has ranged the whole world—except Italy, which has ostentatiously sent good wishes to Tokyo—against her, and unofficial boycotts such as that advocated by the American Federation of Labour will in time have a sensible effect on Japanese commerce. Realisation of that may influence Japanese policy. The Council of Advisers of the Cabinet just formed at Tokyo is thought to have been created with a view more to the formulation of conditions of peace than for the more vigorous prosecution of the war, and the Nine-Power Conference may conceivably be able both to concert pressure and to provide Japan with the necessary facilities for a diplomatic retreat. But that, though it is said to be President Roosevelt's view, seems over-optimistic. At present Japanese methods in China continue to be marked by complete ruthlessness and recklessness, the new attack on British Embassy cars being the latest example of the latter. * * * *
