GROWTH OF POWER IN CHINA.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXIX, Issue 7813, 4 June 1909, Page 4

GROWTH OF POWER IN CHINA.

The Tageblatt fur Nord China publishes an interesting article on the growth of Chinese power m Mongolia, it says that important Chinese colonial questions are being solved unostentatiously, and that Tibet, Mongolia, and Manchuria are becoming more Chinese than ever they have been, i As the means of strengthening her national position m the Dependencies, China is.sending to those places enormous numbers,of emigrants. To send coolies and peasants: m as large num- | bers as it desires to these countries, thinly peopled by native tribes, costs the Peking Government only the small labour of edicts to the Governors of provinces suitable for such emigration, and small financial aid m special cases. An army of about 40,000 men, drilled by Japanese instructors, and armed with modern weapons, has been placed during the past two years m the region of Urumtchj, and the old frontier posts of Kuldja and Bulun-tochoi have been strengthened. In the so-called further Mongolia, to the north of the Gobi desert, the sudden activity of the Chinese Governors Kobdo and Uliasutai is filling the Gonsuls charged with the maintenance of Russian interests m Urga, and Uliasutai with anxiety. Even m tbese places, which are only reached after a tedious desert journey from Peking, the military, as well as the economic power of' the Chinese, is making slow but steady progress. Since 1907 m East Mongolia there have been camps of regular Chinese troops. The endeavours of China m Mongolia are not only directed against the attempts of Russia to obtain foot m that country, but also against the independent Mongolian princes. The interest of independence and the danger threatening them from Peking makes the Mongolian princes the natural allies of the Russians, who are moro sympathetic 4o them than the Chinese. The author asks of what avail that is against the irresistible lorward march of Chines© settlers and traders, with whom Russian traders cannot compete: The overland trade of the tea caravans through the Gobi desert via Kiakhta, which brought occupation to thousands of Mongols, and made the neople dependent on Russian gold, has found other ways. Kiakhta is a town of the past, and a house of eight rooms can •be obtained for 25 roubles a year. Instead of that, the Chinese are planning the first automobile communication through the Gobi desert between Urga and Kalgan, which will shortly be connected with Pekin by rail.