Two spots in China have kept Japanese trigger fingers itching for a long time: Shanghai and Hong Kong. They are centres and symbols of Western exploitation. They are negations of the New (Japanese) Order. In Shanghai's International Settlement is concentrated almost every major U. S. interest in China.
So far the Japanese have restrained themselves from taking the Settlement by force and have tried only political graft and craft. Each time they fail they want the area more. Last week they failed again.
The 96-year-old Settlement is governed by a Municipal Council which since 1930 has consisted (under an unwritten gentlemen's agreement)...