The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 12, 1922. SIBERIA AND JAPAN.

Auckland Star, Volume LIII, Issue 87, 12 April 1922, Page 4

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

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 12, 1922. SIBERIA AND JAPAN.

For the cause that lacks assUtanoe, For the tnrontj that needs resistance, For the future in the distance. And the good that tec can do.

The Government of Chita, the little I Siberian republic which lias interposed , itself as a sort of buffer-stale between | Soviet Bussia and .lapan, has now eoneluded an ajjreement with the Japanese Government, and this seems to be a convenient occasion for considering briefly the new situation created hy the war and its sequel in the Russian Far East. The presence of a large, body of Japanese troops in Siberia seems in the ■first place to require explanation, and most people have since forgotten that Japan sent her soldiers there four rears ago in response to a direct invitation from the rest of the Allies. At this time the new Soviet Government of Russia had made, peace with' Germany, ■which seemed likely to exploit the vast resources of Russia to overwhelm the. Entente Powers: while the efforts of the Czechoslovak forces to brenk out eastward through Siberia and join tho Kntento armies in Western Europe practically compelled Britain and her allies to do something to assist them ■before it was too late. Therefore when Japan suggested to T?ritain and France that slip might checkmate the (GermanSoviet plot and save the Czech o-Slovnk army hy throwing a considerable body of troops into Siberia, the other Powers promptly £Qve her the required mandate: and Japan proceeded to execute it after her own fashion. It was stipulated that the expedition should be a joint affair, each Power sending not more than about 7000 troops But Japan sent 72,000 men, and the position may be summarised by the statement that at the end of 1!>18 she had secured military 'and political as well as commercial ascendancy in this part of tho world. As soon as the armistice was arranged, the American Government politely drew the attention of Japan to the obvious fact that she had overstepped the terms of her mandate. After some discussion, Jupaji withdrew half her troops from Siberia, and by this time the Soviet movement had spread ucross the continent to the Pacific const. Ry '.he middle of 19 If), when Kolchak's party had definitely collapsed, the American. British, and French contingent* were all withdrawn aa well. This retirement waa completed early in 1920-. but meantime certain political developments had taken place in this region which gnve Japan, if not a good reason, at leaat a plausible pretext, for prolonjrinj; her stay. liy January, 1920, there had arisen in .Eastern Siberia, out of the chaos created ■by the Revolution, four separate and distinct Governments, of which the one centralised at Chita was then controlled by anti-Bolshevik forces under Semenoff. It is important to notice that the three other flovernments, located at I'dinnk, Vladivostok, and Tilagovestchinsk, were all more or less democratic, and, therefore, opposed to Bolshevism. Hut the general feeling of the country iras antagonistic to SemenolT and Kolohak, and gradually Chita became definitely revolutionary. In the middle, of l!) 20 the anti-Bolshevik party was strengthened by the arrival of the scattered remnants of the army of Kappel, one of tho survivors of Kolch&k'e grent adventure; but when the Kappelites seized Vladivostok, they refused to admit Serncnoff, who then disappeared from- tho I ecene. The Chita Government had hy this time virtually absorbed the other two minor republics established elsewhere in Eastern Siberia, and within a, few months it was the sole survivor of the four amateur administrations which had j attempted the hazardous experiment of sotting up for themselves in the Far East after the Russian Revolution. Now it is important to observe that the Chita Government, while clearly under Bolshevik influence, and engaged in close and friendly intercourse with Moscow, has never established Sovietism or acknowledged "the dictatorship of tho proletariat." It is stated by Americans, who appear to speak with authority, that public feeling throughout Eastern Siberia is strongly antiBolshevik, that the people will be safeguarded with a Constituent Assembly and democratic institutions, and that they fear absorption by Soviet Russia even more than 'by Japan. At all events, it is clear that the Chita Republic, now virtually recognised by Soviet Russia, is the only stable Government in Eastern Siberia with which Japan or any other Power can enter into political relations: and thus the j agreement just arranged at Dairen I covers the whole scope of Japan's polij tieal and commercial status in the<=c i regions. "What Japan fears mo=t is that i the Chita Republic may become ! intensely Bolshevik, and thus opposed to commercial intercourse with foreigners on capitalistic lines. Whatever the real views of the rulers of the Chita State may be. they have now pledged i themselves not to establish Communism ior Sovietism. and to refrain from all ' propaganda in that direction. The net i outcome of the negotiations i? a very i substantial victory for Japan, which • secures for her freedom of trade and ■ enterprise under the most encouraging i condition?. She is now preparing to fulfil the conditional promise she made ; two years ago to withdraw her troop=.