WORLD AFFAIRS.

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 46, 24 February 1927, Page 8

WORLD AFFAIRS.

A WEEKLY REVIEW. . (By BYSTANDER.) Matters have <-rtainly improved i:i the Far East during .he past week. so far as the probabilities of ponce for Britain are concerned. The Hankow agreement, which will alter all only give the Chinese control of their own local administration, should go some distance towards pacifying the Nationalists; and though it is not supposed to be regarded as a precedent, no doubt it will prepare the way for some sort of peacetul understanding at Shanghai. Mr. Chen has been once more officially informed that Britain reserves to herself the right to station her troops wherever they may be required to defend the lives or the property oi British subjects, and it is evident that the resolute bearing- of our Foreign Office on this point has had its due effect. Anyhow. Mr. Chen ha- signed the agreement on behalf of Canton, and with Dr. Wellir. ton Koo prepared to negotiate in similar lines on behalf of Peking, we may expect that with a reasonable amount of good luck all serious danger to the world's peace in the Far East may yet be averted. The Sad Case of China. But though Britain has no longer ground for serious apprehension about the immediate future. China is quite as badly off as ver. The conflict between Canton and Peking will certainly not be decided without a great deal of bloodshed, and a corresponding amount of anarchy and misery spread over the length and breadth of the land. Professor Griffith Taylor, who passed through China a short time aeo. after attending a science congress at Tokyo, expressed the opinion that the majority of the Chinese do not care very much who wins in the ci\ iI war, so long as peace comes quickly But tho "tu-chuns" or war lords of the various provinces care a great deal. They have much to lose by the establishment of a powerful central tiovemment, and Chang Tso-lin and the rest of them can be depended on to fight to the bitter end. One ominous feature of the present situation was the recent trial and execution of at least one rival general by the Nationalists, on the ground that he had received help from Britain. This bitter vindictive-ess is not calculated to smooth the way toward general reconciliation Another fact to be reckoned with is the appoint mciit of the 801-hcx ik Araloff, one of the most persistent and dangerous of Britain's enemies, to the po-t of Russian Ambas-ador at Canton. The Pacifism of the Soviets. Tliis is one of tho many points of contact between East and West to-day. In the already distant years when Bolshevism was struggling into existence, and the "'white,'' or reactionarv. party was receiving sympathy and help from the Western Powers, one used to hear a great deal about tho Bolshevik hatred of war and the earnest desire of the Soviets to live at peace with all mankind. It is much to be feared that these edifying doctrines were not taken very seriously by Lenin and Trotsky; or, at all events, their successors have wandered very far from tintrue faith. Just now, Rykoff, who is one of tho heads of the Soviet Government, is urging all true Russians to subscribe to the funds of the Society for Military Aviation and Chemical War fare. At the same time, Vorofchiloff, who has displaced Trotsky as War Commissar, is appealing to the whole nation to organise for military purposes. He hopes ultimately to see an army of 20,000,000 Russians prepared to do the will of the Soviet either by defending their own countrv or by crusading against their enemies. "Britain the Enemy." Of course, it need hardly be said that the exponents of Bolshevism, even in discussing tlieii policy between themselves, have tried to discover or invent a plausible pretext for this rampant militarism. In general terms they accuse all other States and nations of endeavouring to thwart and embarrass the Soviet Republic, or of conspiring to overthrow it. But the head and front of the offending, "the chief of the international cut-throats," who threaten to lay sacrilegious hands on the Bolshevik Ark of the Covenant, is, of course, Britain. RykofT, in particular, has made it his business to assure the peoplo of Russia, on every possible occasion, that "Capitalist England"' is their most implacable and most dangerous foe. About a month ago Rykoff. speaking at Riga, announced that "the spectre of war hung over the Soviet,"' and he hinted that Britain was preparing to strike a treacherous and deadly blow at Russia. Now we learn that LitvinofT has issued an official statement, to the effect that "certain members of the British Cabinet" are assisting in a conspiracy organised J by Russian exiles to restore the Czarist regime. | Of course, it is all hopelessly silly and false, but \ it is none the less an effective argument to induce j the Russian people to tolerate vigorous prepara- I tions for nctive war. And when once they have ' forged a dependable weapon, the Bolsheviks will not hesitate to tise it. The New Monroism. The latest news from Central America is to tho effect that General Dia*.. President of Nicaragua, has invited the United States to establish a Protectorate over his country. The ostensible reason is that a revolution is racing which Diaz is unable to put down, and which imperils tho satety of the countrv and the security of American interests there. Accordingly, an ultimatum has been issued from Washington which defines practically the whole of Nicaragua as a '"neutral zone'' in which the rebels are forbidden to operate. At the same time strong military and naval forces have been dispatched to Nicaragua to seize all important harbours and strategic points; and their latest instructions are to "close down" the civil war by any means at their disposal. Why Intervention? It may naturally be asked why Washington, with all its strongly declared prejudices against "foreign entanglements," should be ready to interfere with the internal affairs of this little State. The official answer is that the rebels, under Dr. Sacasa. are being aided by the Mexican Government, which under Calles has developed strongly Bolshevik tendencies, and that in the interests of peace and safety America must step in. But the "anti-Imperialists" in the Senate put a very different construction on the situation According to Senators Borah and Wheeler, the indefatigable opponents of intervention anywhere and everywhere, Diaz has never been legally elected, and in any case he is merely the tool of American oil speculators ajid financiers who want to see his country annexed, or at least exploited, to suit their own selfish ends. Moreover, the L nited States has a "canal zone'' in Nicaragua which may some day supply a moet convenient and valuable alternative to P;nama; and no doubt patriotic Americans are keeping an

eye on this contingency at the present juncture. Ihere is a strong minority in Congress which will help Senator Borah to stand up fur "the rights, liberty, independence, and social well-boim: of

tho people whose country we are a.»ked to invade." But at the moment it looks very much as if the traditional policy of the Orent Ilepuhlic \va~ be in;:

away by a tidal \\a\e of ".Tinpni-in" thai might easily submerge the whole of Central America before it subsides. a.