OCR Text |
Show WILL HOLD KIAOCHOW The Japanese may not g ve up Kiao chow after all When the ult inatum to Germanv was del ered the Tokio governn ent virtually and voluntarily made the statemont that the territory won d be returned to Ch na After war had been declared Premier Okuma replying to a question announced that Japan had no ntent on of sec r ng ter r tonal extension as a result of the con fl ct K aochow not being mentioned Now comes Baron Kato the Japanese fore gn nun ster w th a declarat on that Japan had made no promise to any country to return K aochow to China, The next announcement will probably be that Japan has no inten tion of making her promise good in this respect Susp cion as to the good fa th of the Japanese was aroused when t became (known some weeks ago that certa n s and possessions wrested from Ger many wore be ng explo ted by the Tokio government n such a manner as to leave no doubt that permanent occupa ton was ntended Voluntary rromises are worth no more than treat es when a fat slice of territory is nvolved Both are eas ly broken when the good old game of grab s be ng played Tapan s no worse tha othe countr es n th s respect her only m stal e be g nak ng tho announcement that her motivo n m xing up in the war was to dr vo Germany from the Or ent the occupa t on of Kiaochow by the Teutons be ng regarded as a menace There s naturally great interest n Wash ngton as to what will happen when the war s ended and the d s tr but on of terr tory made That Japan will be allowed to retain tho strip of Chinese terr tory if the all es win s not subject to doubt although Great Br ta n helped n its capture with land and sea forces The fact that such aid was rendered is the excuse made for not def n tely Bettl ng the fate of Kiaochow at the present time The ex cuse is reasonable enough even though t foreshadows aggrand zement upon the part of Japan for if the Tokio govern ment intended to make its prom so good and Ins sted upon return ng the terri tory to China it a certa n that Great Bnta n would not stand in the way Germany has been ent cised for viola tion of the neutra ty of Belgium that poor 1 ttle country having been forced into the war and almost annih lated. According to the present outlook the Japanese will continue to v olate the neutral ty of China and declare war if the poor old vict m objects The action of Japan in this matter may be compared to that of a man who forces a robber to disgorge and then keeps the plunder as a reward no attent on being paid to the rightful possessor if hs happens to be a child or an aged person unable to mamta n his rights |