THE WAR CLOUD.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 243, 15 October 1931, Page 6

THE WAR CLOUD.

The latest news from China, to the effect that the Canton authorities have induced the Nanking Government to accept their demands, and have even secured the resignation of the President of the Republic, Chiang Kai-shek, has a very direct bearing on the dangerous situation created by the Mahchurian crisis. The Canton province has long been the centre of political disaffection and revolutionary activity in China, and under the rule of Sun Yat Sen it formed a republic virtually independent of Peking. The South has never really acquiesced in the centralisation of political power in the North, whether at Peking or at Nanking, and it was in this part of China that the Bolsheviks made most converts and the Communist movement first made headway. If Canton has now effected a reconciliation with Nanking, it is only because the whole Chinese nation is drawing together in face of the Japanese menace, and this new movement toward national unity is a proof and a measure of the intensity of that danger.

Meantime, the Council of the League of Nations, in a special session, is considering the Manchurian situation. The attitude of Japan is hardly convincing. It is a little late in the day to assert that "Japan has no territorial pretensions in Manchuria," and the carefullyworded assurance that "the Japanese Government is strongly disposed to withdraw its troops as soon as security is really assured," is not likely to impress the League favourably. It is to be observed that Japan "is quite prepared to begin direct negotiations with the Chinese Government." But this evident objection to the,-intervention of outsiders is hardly flattering to the League, and it is, unfortunately, quite in keeping with the recent ominous cable message to the effect that "Japan has consistently refused investigation by a third party." If the evasive attitude adopted by the Japanese throughout this dispute produces the impression that they are actuated by ulterior motives, they have only themselves to blame.