NEWS from one hundred years ago: ALLIANCE WITH JAPAN

The alliance between the British Empire and the Japanese Empire has been a cornerstone of foreign policy since it was signed eighteen years ago. An editorial in The Press today talks about the future of the alliance. The governments of Britain, Japan and the United States have been wondering all year whether the alliance could be widened. Tokyo is keen on making it a three-way alliance of Britain, Japan and the United States. Washington and London are thinking about asking a fourth partner to join: China. The editorial notes that diplomats ‘generally’ agree that opinion in Australia and New Zealand ‘must have special weight’ in the question since they are the self-governing states of the British Empire ‘most affected by the political arrangements that the Powers may make in the Pacific.’ The Australian government seems not to favour either renewing or enlarging the alliance, being inclined to see Japan as a rising rival to the British Empire. The New Zealand government has not come out with any clear statement about the alliance. The Press expresses no opinion of its own, but tells the government it needs to get to work and sort out a policy.
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The Press, 15 October 1920