CHINA'S CIVIL WAR.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 124, 28 May 1928, Page 7

CHINA'S CIVIL WAR.

HOPES FOR CESSATION. (Australian and N.Z. Press Association.) TOKYO, May 27. Reports received at Tokyo from Tientsin, China, state that the armies of the Manehurian war-lord Chang Tso-lin have commenced a general offensive against the Southern allies. Nevertheless, there is a growing impression in Japan that some form of armistice may yet be arranged to permit either of a continuation of Chang's regime in Peking or the creation of a buffer area between the Nationalists and Chang in the PekingTientsin zone.

Japanese officials continue to be pessimistic about Chang's success, but it is known that efforts are being exerted in some quarters to arrange a cessation of the civil war in China on a basic of diplomatic agreements rather than of finishing the war.

Japan's military preparations in South Manchuria are being continued apace. There are daily movements of troops and the entire Japanese position between Mukden and Shanhaikwan is being strengthened.

Dispatches from Tsingtao, the eastern port of Shantung, state that RearAdmiral Mukaida, commanding the second Japanese squadron in China, issued a summary order preventing the Chinese warships Tsingtao and Kiaochow from engaging in belligerent operations, on the ground that foreign nationals would be uselessly endangered. General Yasumitsu, commanding the Nagoya Division, has requested the Northern and the Southern forces to retire beyond a 20-mile line on either side of the Kaiochow-Tsi-Nau-Fu railway, on the ground that the presence of Chinese forces in that area threatens foreign interests. The military have also ordered the cessation of all anti-Japanese propaganda, in the occupied areas.