Japan and Manchuria The intention of Japan to recognize the
new State of Manchukuo is now definitely announced. It would indeed be surprising if the Government at Tokyo refrained from recognizing what its own ingenuity had devised, its own agents were administering and its own troops were maintaining. But such action nevertheless must create a profoundly grave situation if the Lytton Commission recommends, as is expected, that Chinese sovereignty shall be maintained in Manchuria, subject- to various provisions designed to give Japan full guarantees for the prosecution of her trade and the protection of her nationals. Apart from that the United States has laid down, and all League States have accepted, the principle that no recognition shall be given to a situation created, as the situation in Manchuria unquestionably is, in violation of international obligations. If Japan is to range herself against the world in this matter everything will depend on the firmness and resolution of which the world shows itself capable. The League of Nations has at least three critical problems before it, and the Manchurian issue is still the gravest of them.
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