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At the specific request of Generalissimo Chiang Kaishek, the freezing order had included Chinese assets, to prevent their use by Japanese owners, and to facilitate the Chinese exchange problem. Big chore ahead: to close the entire Hemisphere to the Japanese. Acting Secretary of State Sumner Welles this week intimated that the U.S. would welcome parallel economic measures by other American nations against Japan. Mexico's President Manuel Avila Camacho warned that an attack on any other American country might lead to Mexico's entry into the war. The Hemisphere was apparently falling into line behind U.S. policy. The U.S. and the Japanese were now face to face at the shortest distance yet. Each had encircled the other in the South Pacific (see p. 20). The next major move on either side would mean war.