JAPAN'S DEMAND
[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.]
SIR, I venture to deal with the note appended to the letter of mine which you were good enough to insert in your issue of January 25th.
You say the demand is for " equality at sea," but the demand is surely for far more than equality : it is for- " unchallenged supremacy " in the Western Pacific. You proceed that Great Britain and America can resist the demand by continuing to maintain fleets substantially larger than Japan.
Our fleet is dangerously reduced now (our Admirals con- stantly tell Us so), and how can Britain maintain a very large fleet in the Western Pacific in these days ?
As regards America, were she to maintain a very large force in the Western Pacific, would not: this in itself be likely to bring about a conflict with Japan ? Cannot Japan build warships too ? A race for such supremacy might well
lead to war. . .
You deny Japan's right to naval supremacy in the Western Pacific on ethical grounds, but it seems to me the right will have to be conceded. We have naval supremacy in the North Sea and the Channel (at least I hope so), and America supremacy in the Eastern Pacific. Why should not Japan command the Western ?—Yours faithfully,
J. ROWLAND Horwoon.
13 South Square, Gray's Inn, W.C.1..
[Because there is all too much evidence that Japan desires to use her predominance for the coercion (or dismemberment) of China.—ED. The Spectator.]
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