Side-Tracking Singapore The report that Japan is likely to negotiate
a treaty with Siam for the cutting of a canal through the Isthmus of Kra recurs from time to time and is current again now. Kra is on the neck of the long isthmus at the foot of which Singapore is situated. At present vessels voyaging from the Indian Ocean to the Pacific or vice versa must pass through the Straits of Malacca (one of the three strategic passages which, according to Lord Fisher, the Almighty has given into Britain's safe keeping) and past Singapore. If the Kra canal were cut more than six hundred miles further up the isthmus that route would become obsolete in a day. Japan could plausibly plead the advantage, for commercial purposes, of such a shortening of the route, but its effect on naval strategy—to the immense disadvantage of this country, which would see Singapore rendered almost useless—would be far-reaching, and France (on account of Cochin China) and Holland (on account of Sumatra) can be counted on to support Great Britain in dissuading Siam from acceding to any such plan.
Previous page
