The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER.5. 1912. ENGLAND IN ASIA.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIII, Issue 213, 5 September 1912, Page 4

The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo.

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER.S. 1912. ENGLAND IN ASIA.

I' For- the cause that lacks outlet once, ■■ For the -wrong that needs resistance, | For the future in the distance, |. And the good that we cvi» do. j ■ ■ - — . ; j:

A curious complication ha? arisen, in 1 ! Central Asia, which spriously concerns ; England's status there end her relations < with the other Powers -who are watch- I ing with absorbed interest the progress' i of events in the Far East. One of the \ effects of the Chinese Revolution has . ineen to weaken the Administrative 1 authority on the outskirts of that wide- ' spread Empire; and.the RA/pntlica.n Gov- ( erivment in attempting -to. assert itself • in Tibet- 'has come to Violent conflict ; with ♦ho" tu-rbu-lcnt tribe* who inha.bit that iira.cees?i'blc region. As Tibet has I always been a dependency of the Chinese I • Empire, it might be aspumod that China 1 ■would ibe'allowed 'to settle matters in I her own way with her rebellions vassal. j But this i~ the point at which China's j ■relations with other Powers come into i play, and Enpnnd has created no small j sensation in diplomatic circles by suri- ; denly intervening with v warning that • China will rot be allowed to take any! steps infrinpinf: upon Tibet's territorial I integrity ami her rijrht to manajro her j : own internal alTairs. - . The term?.ol the memorandum which; ; our Ambassador at Peking has addressed ■ to the Chinese fJovernaient are \m-\ usually clear and forcible. Sir .Tnhn Jor- ', dan points put that 'by tire. Anglo- i Chinese treaty of 1000, England roeog! ni?e:d CWnft's suzerainty over TTbet. but I that, there was nothing in the treaty I to impair the right of autonomy claimed | by the Tibetans. So loriff as Ihe Tibetane i keep their promise not to enter into i diplomatic relations with any other i Power, and not to cede any territory | to foreigners, England has undertaken to , protect them agaanst a<g.!?re.»sion and to secure their right* oJ' sclf-govcrniiient. i In the present instance it appears to the r British Government that China, by endeavouring to establish absolute sovereignty : over Tibet is transgressing the limits I fixed by this treaty; and so Sir John ' Jordan notifies China that though she | is- still suzerain of . the . Tibetans, the j. , country is (practically an independent i State under tie protection of England. : To say that this unexpected develop-j merit hae caused a sensation at Home is I a very mUd way of putting it. The Radical newspapers are furious—partly because they think that their "betei noire," Sir- Edward (J-rey. In? once rnorr.). taken too much upon himself, :\'.'A < chiefly because they have always opposed the "forward"' pnJii-y in Central Asia, and they fear that this last move !«■ only a prelude, to annexation. Natuvally the friends of Lord Clirzon who have;' all along insisted that the Vounghußband expedition should never have been ic-j , called from Jvhasa, are extremely jubi- 1' lant. ■ But there is undoubtedly an e!c-1 ■ ment oif serious danger in the present | situation, and the "Daily Chronicle" is probably not- far wrong in its surmises ,•' as to the connection between this new j Tibetan ■policy and England's Asiatic i relations vrith. TtiiEßia and Japan. It i? ' quite probable, that Russia, which is j now anxious to obtain foothold in Mongolia, is prepared to withdraw iic-r i opposition 'to Kngland's oc-<.-uprtt?on oi Tibet for a "quid pro quo"; while Japan might easily be satisfied with Russian and British sympathy in regard 10 h'Haims in Manchuria. Altogether, thos.remarkable developments in Tibet open up a wide vista of diplomatic possibilities. But, however we regard the prospect, it certainly looks • gloomy for < China, 'and it sheds a corfops light upon ; the intentions of the Powers that have 50 often pledged themselves to respect' ,lier ■nghtis S> ... - . ,'