THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. FRIDAY, JUNE 5, 1912 CHINA FIGHTS ON

New Zealand Herald, Volume 79, Issue 24292, 5 June 1942, Page 2

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. FRIDAY, JUNE 5, 1912 CHINA FIGHTS ON

Since the loss of Rangoon the situation of China has become steadily more serious. Once the Burmese port fell to the Japanese, the Burma Road ceased to be an effective means of communication with the outside world. The recent appeal of Marshal Chiang Kai-shek to Great Britain and the United States for mechanised equipment is the unfortunate evidence that no such armaments have been forthcoming for some time. When the situation in Burma became grave President Roosevelt declared that a way would be found to send help to China. What Mr. Roosevelt had in mind is not clear. The proposed road from Assam to Chengtu lies over some of the most difficult and mountainous country in the world and its construction must take years. The transport of armaments by aeroplane, while valuable, cannot take the place of a serviceable road ; in any case the United States has only begun the construction on a large scale of suitable aeroplanes. It, is little wonder, then, that the Chinese Generalissimo says that his forces have been fighting with bare fists. The Chinese cannot win the war by their morale alone, magnificent as their fighting spirit is and has been. Their needs are recognised both in Great Britain and the United States. On Wednesday Mr. Eden said in the House of Commons that the democracies were supplying China with all the munitions and equipment which it was possible to supply, having regard to other demands and to difficulties of transport. What shipping can be spared for the Indian Ocean will be used primarily to carry materials for the defence of India, whose integrity must be preserved if a route is to be found to China. Meantime, with the Japanese in command of the western Pacific, the Chinese must fight on as best they can. Their best is magnificent. There can be little doubt that in spite of many a defeat the Chinese are the most formidable antagonists which the Japanese have yet encountered on land. Unquestionably the Chinese have had immense areas on which to manoeuvre and have not laboured under the territorial disadvantages suffered by our forces in Malaya. Marshal Chiang Kai-shek successfully withdrew up the valley of the Yangtse to Chungking and until the invasion of Burma maintained an almost invulnerable position. Apart altogether from the advantages of geography, the Chinese have proved themselves masters of guerilla warfare and are less vulnerable to the so-called infiltration tactics used so successfully by the Japanese in Malaya. Unfortunately her prowess has never enabled China to turn a victory to full account. Thus her very great achievement in repulsing the Japanese at Changsha last January was hailed in many quarters as a turning point in the Far East. Partly because of lack of mechanised equipment and aeroplanes and partly because of a certain inability to exploit a success to the utmost the Chinese did not use their victory as had been hoped. Indeed, apart from local successes, the Chinese position has steadily deteriorated since the battle of Changsha. Our Allies are now bearing the full brunt of the Japanese attack, for the leaders of

Japan have been insistent that the conquest of China is an indispensable preliminary to world domination. By wily diplomacy and effective fighting the Japanese have seized one by one the areas through which China drew succour.

Serious as the position is, Marshal Chiang Kai-shek still controls very great areas. It will have come as a surprise to many people to realise that until a few days ago a great part of the coastal province of Chekiang, just south of Shanghai, was in the hands of free China and a base for bombing raids upon the cities oE Japan. Although the Chinese have been driven out of Kinhwa they are resisting manfully along the line of the railway between that city and Nanchang. To the south-west they still hold Changsha and prevent the Japanese using to the full the great trunk railway running to Canton. Further north, to the west of Hankow on the Yangtse, our Allies control the province of Hupeh and thus bar the way to Chungking. In the west in spite of dangerous moves up the Burma Road and from Indo-China the province of Yunnan is intact. In the Far North the Japanese have not over-run Shansi. Thus hundreds of thousands of Japanese, who might otherwise be attacking India or Australia or New Zealand, are confined in China with formidable tasks still ahead of them. China's fight is our fight and is a noble contribution to the Allied cause.