Lloyd George, General Smuts and other statesmen were in favour of an Anglo-American alliance and such an understanding was supported by one of his colleagues in Japan.  The latter considered that Japan was aiming to dominate North China.  Another view from Tokyo was that speeches by Western politicians who had never visited the East, advocating such an alliance, only antagonised a sensitive nation like Japan and increased her feeling of isolation.  A recent trade mission had improved relations with Britain.  This person believed that Japan was becoming friendlier towards the Soviet Union.  A third colleague considered an alliance with America was nonsense and that the Americans could not be relied upon, that they had a passion for isolation and that they had no great interests in the Far East.  They were abandoning the Philippines and would not help Britain defend Hong Kong or Shanghai.  The only alternative would be a close understanding with Japan.  Gareth closed his article with these words:  “Which is the right point of view?  I shall not make up my mind until I have been through the Far East, visited China and Manchukuo and returned for a second visit to Japan”.

 As a consequence of the war loans of the First World War, Britain was indebted to the United States.  Despite these debts, in the period prior to the Second World War, the British Empire was considered a great and a dominant power in the Far East.  On the other hand, Germany had become an impoverished country.  Following her defeat in the Great War and as a result of the conditions of the Treaty of Versailles, which financially crippled the nation, she lost her empire.  The German economic and financial paralysis of 1930-32 made repayment of the war reparations prohibitive and after the temporary moratorium these were permanently repealed.  Gareth was to see for himself the poverty of the people and the demoralised youth who were unemployed and who had no hope of finding work.  Rebelling against the bondage of war reparations and the failure of democracy, a disillusioned Germany allowed Hitler and the National Socialists to come to power in early 1933.  She began to rearm and turned to China, away from the “Jewish-Bolshevik” state of Russia to import raw materials including wolfram (for tungsten) and antimony required for armaments.  In return, with the knowledge of the War Ministry, the Reichswehr, she gave advice and military equipment to Marshall Chang Kai-shek for the purpose of suppressing the Communists and the eventual war that might take place against the Japanese.