The position therefore is that while Japan is claiming a
completely free hand in Manchuria every League State which supported the Assembly resolution of March 7th (which was carried arm. coo., 43 States voting) must resist that claim. The United States rejects it flatly as a breach both of the Nine-Power Treaty and the Kellogg Pact. The latest news is that the Japanese advisers who are shaping the policy of the new puppet government in Manchuria have directed that the revenue of the Chinese Maritime Customs and of the Salt gabelle shall be seized and retained for the new government's benefit. That, of course, was only to be expected, but it is further proof that Japan is continuing to act as she sees fit in a matter formally submitted to the League's arbitrament. Our own Government is fully committed, by its approval of resolu- tions both of the Council and the Assembly, to ranging itself with the United States in declining to recognize any situation created, as the Manchurian situation clearly has been, in violation of treaties. It remains to be seen whether Japan will openly defy the League and America in this matter, violating the Covenant to the detriment of another League State. That is the vital question. The possibility of her withdrawing from League member- ship, serious though such a step would be, is secondary.
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