DEFENCE ONLY.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 172, 23 July 1929, Page 7

DEFENCE ONLY.

CHINA'S DECISION.

WILL RUSSIA FIGHT?

Big Array Of Russian Arms On Frontier. EVERY MODERN WAR DEVICE. (Australian and N.Z. Press Association.) (Received 12 noon.) SHANGHAI, July 22. The Government leaders at Nanking have decided that China should confine herself to defence measures alone. Any firing from the Chinese side of the border will be in selfdefence. The majority of Chinese officials at Nanking reiterate the confidence that Russia will not fight. A Japanese report states that 2500 Soviet troops have surrounded Mancliuli in consequence of another rumour that Japan was dispatching military forces to Manchuria to protect her nationals in the event of the outbreak of Sino-Russian hostilities. It is reported that every White Russian residing in China is prepared for active service to assist China. A Peking message states that the Chinese military authorities are reinforcing the Urga front, following the receipt of information that the Soviet tactics appear to be forcing pressure on the western front while pretending to attack the eastern border. A foreign military observer, who recently arrived in Siberia, asserts that Russia has .been preparing for the Manchurian trouble for months. She has now concentrated 120,000 troops on the border with heavy artillery, bombing 'planes, gas machines, and every modern device of warfare.

Notwithstanding the fact that the President of China, Chiang Kai-shek, reiterates his confidence that the trouble •in Manchuria will be settled in an amicable manner, the people of the country everywhere are in a state of suspense. This is especially the case in the north, where foreign observers fear a minor clash between the opposing foes, either at Manchuli or at Pogranichnaya, may constitute a spark which will set the border aflame. Messages to hand at the week-end were notably scanty in reference to the military movements on the frontier. It is believed that indicates quietness. According to a Japanese message from Manchuli the Chinese there are digging entrenchments along the northern edge of the town. This has resulted in the inhabitants taking flight _ and barring their homes against the military. The situation at Pogranichnaya, which is at the south-eastern end of the railway, is quiet, but it is reported that Chinese .troops fired at Russian aeroplanes, the airmen in which retaliated by dropping bombs on Russian territory in a threatening manner as a warning. Latest messages from Harbin report the arrival of large numbers of Japanese refugees from Manchuli, mostly women and "children. They carried messages from the Japanese Consul stating owing to the increasingly critical situation and the possibility of the destruction of the railway bridge across the Hailai River, he had ordered the withdrawal of Japanese civilians, though he had previously intended to accommodate them in the Consulate. Telegraphic messages from Manchuli state that, acting on Chinese instructions from Mukden, the military officials on the .western frontier are sending their families to Harbin by special train. The anxiety of the other inhabitants is causing rumours that hostilities are expected at any moment. SHIPS SEIZED. SOVIET TAKE THREE VESSELS. (United Service.) (Received 10 a.m.) SHANGHAI, July 22. ; Over 80 foreigners, hoping to travel to Europe via Siberia, are held up in Bardin at the confluence of the Sungari and Hei Lung-kiaiig rivers by Soviet gunboats, who seized three Chinese merchantmen and removed the passengers, Avho were carried into Russian territory.