The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, The Echo and the Sun. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 7, 1930. THE CHINESE PUZZLE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 237, 7 October 1930, Page 6

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

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 7, 1930. THE CHINESE PUZZLE.

For the cause that lacks assistance, For the wrong that needs resistance, for the future in the distance, And the good that we can do.

A few clays ago it was reported from the Far East that a, body of Manclmrian troops had entered Peking , and taken over the control of the city. The ancient Manchu capital has apparently dropped the recently acquired name of Peiping , , in honour of the restoration of centralised Government in its old seat. For the representatives of the federation of Northern leaders, who are hostile to Chiang-Kai-shek and the Nanking Nationalists, have evidently made up their minds to stand their ground against the South, and the entry of a portion of the Manchurian army upoa the scene certainly appears to indicate that they have secured the backing of the son and heir of the great Manchurian "war lord," Chang Tso-lin.

The struggle now in progress in China is really a conflict between the racial qualities and ideals of the North and the South. The Southerners have never been either liked or respected in the North, where the people realise that, throughout their history, they have always been the ruling caste of China. The men of the North look upon themselves as bolder, sterner and more practical than the Southerners, and they deplore the fact that the revolution which overthrew the Manchu Empire was started by the Cantonese Sun Yat-sen. Moreover, the Northerns resent fiercely the efforts made by Chiang Kai-shek to establish a monopoly of political power for himself and his relations at Nanking, and they are determined to assert their local "State rights" against this Southern despotism.

After the Communist outbreak had been crushed in 1927-2S, Chiang Kai-shek was vir-

tually accepted as President of the Republic, and he took care to include in his ministry the Xorthern leaders avlio were most likely to prove dangerous if neglected or antagonised. Feng Yu-hsiang, the famous "Christian." general, became Minister of War, Yan Hsishan, the Governor of Shan-si was Minister of the Interior, and Chang Hsueh-liang, the son of old Chang Tso-lin of Manehurian fame, ' was practically "Minister without portfolio." For the moment things went smoothly, but early in 1929 President Chiang, at the instance of his Minister of Finance, demanded the disbandmenfc of all armies to save expense. Chiang's enemies whispered that, instead of disbanding his own army, he was reorganising it with the help of German officers, and Feng and Yen therefore determined to break away from the Southern Nationalists altogether. Suddenly the astute Feng left banking nominally to disband his troops, but really to seize Shantung as soon as the last Japanese troops were withdrawn. Yen, who is practically supreme in Shan-si, now withdrew to his home and prepared for a struggle. But Chang, who seems to have thought that he could profit by the desertion of Feng and Yen, preferred to be still loyal to Nanking , . Chiang then dismissed Feng and proclaimed him a rebel, and a short time afterward Feng and Yen joined bands to resist Chiang. A great deal of fig-hting- has taken place during the past few months, and the Nationalists seem to have made some headway. But the Northern supporters of Feng and Yen have now established themselves firmly at Peking and reconstituted it as the seat of government. It was generally agreed that Chang Hsueh-liang, who was watching the situation carefully from his Manehurian fastness, held the key of the situation, but the Nationalists believed that he would remain loyal to the President. Now it seems that "the call of the North" has been too strong for Chang Tsolin's son, and as Chang's troops have entered Peking with the evident intention of fraternising with the'forces of Feng and Yen, we may assume that the balance has swung against the Southerners once more, and that President Chiang will have grave difficulty in holding his own in the coming struggle.