Prettiest seat on the fence from which Japan, Russia and Italy are watching World War II is enjoyed by Japan. Last week she showed every sign of squirming pleasurably upon it—even a few signs of eagerness to climb down.
First of all Tokyo newspapers broke into one of their unison chants. One thing which must not happen, they said, is "military action by powers threatening The Netherlands Indies ... or even temporary protective measures." Japan would protect the islands from such protection.
After Japanese newspapers had done the spadework Foreign Minister Hachiro Arita, addressing the foreign press with a practiced to-whom-it-may-concern air, remarked: "With the South Seas region, and especially The Netherlands Indies, Japan is economically bound by an intimate relationship of mutuality in ministering to one another's needs. . . . The Japanese Government cannot but be deeply concerned over any development accompanying the aggravation of the war in Europe that may affect the status quo of The Netherlands Indies."
Next day in Amsterdam, Netherlands Foreign Minister Eelco Nicholas van Kieffens, an extraordinarily thin man with big nose, little chin, thin hair, hollow eyes, called in Japan's Minister to The Netherlands Itaro Ishii and told him that The Netherlands Indies wanted no protection from anybody, thanks just the same. But meantime Jean Charles Pabst, Netherlands Minister to Japan, called on Mr. Arita to thank him for upholding the status quo. These contradictions were not the reaction Mr. Arita was most interested in hearing. That came two days later.
Secretary of State Cordell Hull, in turn, speaking to no one in particular—i.e., the press—declared: "Intervention in the domestic affairs of The Netherlands Indies or any alteration of their status quo by other than peaceful processes would be prejudicial to the cause of stability, peace and security not only in the region of The Netherlands Indies, but in the entire Pacific area."
From Tokyo came a good imitation of pleasure. Japan and the U. S. "are in cordial agreement," said one spokesman. Fact was, of course, they were in agreement in words only.
Treasure Trove. The "New Order In Asia" is to Japan what the Monroe Doctrine is to the U. S. The Netherlands Indies comprise the juiciest colonial plum in the world. Only one other area produces more rubber, three others more oil. Japan gets one-quarter of its oil there. The islands export sugar, coffee, quinine, tobacco, copra, spices, cattle, timber, coal, tin, gold, silver—all of which Japan can use. Their 60,727,233 inhabitants are a huge market for Japanese textiles and cut-rate manufactures.
Japan has everything to lose if an outsider takes over this treasure trove. Loss of Dutch oil combined with a possible U. S. embargo would be mortal. On the other hand, taking The Netherlands Empire itself would at one stroke accomplish Japan's New Order. Instead of cowering before the threat of an oil embargo, she could herself threaten a rubber and tin embargo against the U. S. She would possess islands from which she could conveniently attack Singapore. She would be able to snip off Hong Kong, Indo-China, the Philippines from the Western World.