Japan's Aspirations The statement of policy issued by the japanese
Foreign Minister, M. Hirota, on Monday, must be regarded as conciliatory in intention, and one event to which he made reference—the conclusion of negotiations for the sale of the Chinese Eastern Railway by Soviet Russia nominally to Manchukuo, but in reality; of course, to Japan—does undoubtedly remove one grave danger of international conflict. But there are passages in M. Hirota's speech none the less which justify existing anxieties. The Japanese Foreign Minister expresses the fervent hope that China " will waken to a realization of the whole situation of Eastern Asia and undertake to meet the genuine aspirations of our country." This remark comes at a moment when Japan has launched an artillery attack on China in Chahar, nominally for the purpose of securing minor frontier adjustments, and is making proposals regarding naval agreements which would leave her the unchallenged mistress of the Western Pacific, with her hands free to pursue whatever policy she might think necessary to give effect to her " genuine aspirations " in China. That is the real crux of the present situation. Neither this country nor the United States is prepared to abandon China to Japanese exploitation.
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