The Policies and Interests of Great Britain and Holland in the Far East

Abstract

The Policies and Interests of Great Britain and Holland in the Far East. No traveller in Eastern Asia can fail to be impressed by the widespread alarm and hostility towards Japan's intentions and her economic penetration. This feeling is first to be encountered in Ceylon, where, despite the Singapore naval base, there is a distinct undercurrent of uneasiness among the Ceylonese political leaders. The attitude is much more pronounced in British Malaya, and becomes steadily stronger as one nears Japan. Sympathy for China is the dominant sentiment; but at the same time one encounters the belief that in the long run the Chinese may prove the more serious problem. A very important Dutch official typified this attitude when he remarked that he believed that Japan's ambitions in China would fatally overstrain her resources so that in a few years she would cease to be a menace, “but even after a couple of centuries the problem of the Chinese immigrants will be as serious as ever.”