UPHEAVAL IMMINENT?

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 153, 1 July 1931, Page 9

UPHEAVAL IMMINENT?

NEW CONFLICT IN CHINA. BISHOP'S PREDICTION. FEAR/ FOR . MISSIONARIES.; ; . (From Our Own Correspondent.) 7. ; . . ,-■; V.VANCOUVER,'.VANCOUVER,' June 4. "Chinese civil war, more 'fierce and widespread than ever, before, is imminent, and is likely to burst forth with terrific force any day now," : declared Bishop W. C. White, head ;of 'the Canadian Church of England diocese; in Honan province, who, ! together with Mrs. White, has arrived to spend a few months in the Dominion before returning to his mission field. •■-■• ■ ■ -The defection of the Cantonese section of the Kuoinintang party • from the Nationalist Government, said Bishop White, was the prime factor in rendering conditions in the country unsafe. It was that feeling of insecurity, more than any other, factor,, which was making, business in the interior as well as in-coast ports. utterly stagnant. . ~

The Nationalist Government was paying for errors it made last year when.it went to war with the intention of "cleaning up" the- disaffection in the north-west. Yen His-Shan, one of the disturbing war lord factors, . was defeated, driven from the country, and his goods confiscated, but the Government compromised with Feng YuHsiang, the so-called Christian general. He was allowed to remain in the interior and if the Cantonese rebel led, he and his brother war lords would seize their opportunity, and a vast part of China would be. plunged into civil war. "The country is in a /gloomy situation," said Bishop White, "and none can tell what the outcome will be." He added that he believed that when the next civil war broke out eyery. Christian missionary, and every foreign trader in the interior would be ordered to leave.