"HOT SPOTS" IN THE FAR EAST

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 108, 8 May 1937, Page 7 (Supplement)

"HOT SPOTS" IN THE FAR EAST

iVeu) Military Bases for Korea.

JAPAN'S STRATEGIC PORTS AND RAILWAYS.

(By JOHN POWELL.)

SWSHIN (Korea). tie Far East which are likely to become hotter in the event of a war between Japan and the Soviets this little town located on the upper east coast of Korea should be pfcEff to the top of the list. Actually there are two other towns, r?J!. m a ?£ Y J kl » whica » hou, d be bracketed with Seishin, for all three are now being developed as rapidly as possible as military bases for the future use of the Imperial Japanese army and navy. , Seishin, the oldest of the three towns, was established about 20 years ago. It now has some 40,000 persons: Rashin and Yula are smaller but mowing rapidly, due to the large sums of money which are being expended on harbour and railway work* and fortifications. Owing to the rocky and precipitous nature of the upper eastern Korean coastline, it has been necessary for the South Manchuria railway, which is executing the development work on behalf of the Japanese military authorities to literally blast away entire mountain* in order to provide space along the seaside for railway yards and warehouses. Higher up on the mountain sides appear freshly made excavations indicating new gun emplacements, but they shortly will become invisible from the sea, due to the blanket of dwarf pme trees which covers the eastern slope of the Korean mountains. Landing Places For Troops. The small Japanese steamer, the Amakuse Maru, which makes three trips a month between the Japanese port of Tsuruga and the Soviet port of Vladivostok, makes brief stops at Yuki and Seishin, but does not stop at Rashin where the main naval landing base is being developed. Yuki, located at the upper north-eastern corner of Korea, is only about 100 miles from Vladivostok. Rashin, which only appears on the latest maps, is some six miles south of Yuki, while Seishin ie about 50 miles south

of Rashin. The three towns are connected by rail and motor roads, the latter recently completed. Seishin, Rashin and Yuki became strategically important from a militarv standpoint immediately following the Japanese occupation of Manchuria late in 1931, due to the necessity of finding a shorter route to eastern and northern Manchuria for the transportation of Japanese troops. Previously all Japanese troops destined for service in Manchuria were dispatched either through Dairen on the southern tip of the Kwantung peninsula or through Korea. Either route required from four to five days from Japan to the Southern Manchurian border, and then there was the long rail trip over the South Manchuria line to Mukden and Changchun. By developing the new ports on the upper Eastern Korean coast it is now said to be possible to send troops from Tokyo district of Japan proper to Changchtin and Harbin in from 40 to 50 hours. In the event of hostilities with Russia it would be possible for Japan to land troops at Seishin, Rashin and Yuki and send them to the hinterland of Vladivostok in an even shorter time. Railways and Highways. Along with the construction of these new ports the Japanese have been rushing to completion a new series of strategic railways which provide access to eastern and northern Manchuria. First they linked up the northern Korean railways with the formerly Chinese controlled line extending eastward from Changchun (Hsinking) through Kirin city. Then they constructed an entirely new line from Lafa on the Kirin line to Harbin, and in addition built a new bridge across the Sungari River in order to link up the new road with another Chinese-constructed line which extended northward from Harbin to the town of Hailun. Late in December they completed a further new line extending directly northward to the town of Taheiho on the Amur, this being a matter of great importance, for Taheiho is located directly opposite the Russian

town of Blagoveschensk. Now to complete the strategic network the Japanese army engineers are building a further line extending northward from Yenki on the Kotaan border to Hailun on the eastern branch of the Chinese Eastern railway (west of Vladivostok), and thence on northward to Sansing on the lower Sungari River, which is located only a few miles west of Khabarovsk, capital of the Soviet Dalne-Vostochni, or far eastern province. Along with the railway construction the Japanese also built a new motor highway, strengthened to bear heavy military equipment, along the south bank of the Sungari River from Harbin to a point almost opposite Khabarovsk. The Threat To Vladivostok.

The Japanese Lave thus enveloped the entire eastern and north-eastern borders of Manchuria " fronting on Soviet territory wtih a transportation system which, in time of war, would make it extremely difficult for the Soviets to hold Vladivostok and the Amur-Maritime terri-

tory. It was this Japanese activity that jarred Moscow bureaucracies into action and forced the decision to double track the Trans-Siberian railway and 'fortify the Siberian frontier. The Russians were most concerned with the new railway which the Japanese built directly to the Amur boundary at Taheiho, opposite Blagoveschensk. This explains the present concentration of the Soviets upon the completion of the double tracking of the section of the Trans-Siberian between the towns of Chita and Blagoveschensk. Work is proceeding on this sector both night and day, despite weather which often drops to 35 degrees below zero. The problem of concrete pouring for bridge construction has been solved by housing in the entire structure and heating it artificially, the labour' gangs also using the building for living quarters at the same time. The Russians realise that if they cannot rush troops to the Blagoveschensk area for defence purposes in an emergency that the Japanese, by using their new railways, could i easily cut the Trans-Siberian at this point and completely isolate Vladivostok and the Soviet far east.

Feverish Checkmating More*. Since the Japanese by using their new Korean ports and Manchurian railways are able to send troops to the Amur frontier in from 40 to 50 hours, they now have an advantage, on paper at least, over the Russians, whose Trans-Siberian line requires about 60 hours from Chita to the port of Vladivostok. This explains why the Soviets have paid so much attention to aviation development in the Khabarovsk-Vladivostok sector, because their obvious intention is, in the event of an outbreak, to bomb not only the new Korean ports of Seishin, Rashin and Yuki, but also the entire length of the new Japanese railway hook up. The distances here from the Soviet frontier range only from 50 to 150 miles. As the new Japanese railway running northward to Taheiho passes through an undeveloped district, the Japanese recently have announced the formation of a new colonisation company capitalised at 50,000,000 yen, which will foster the migration pf 250,000 Japanese farmers from Japan proper to North Manchuria. The Japanese hope, by means of this new colony of their own subjects, to offset the Soviet scheme in establishing the Bira-Bijan JewishKorean colony which is located on the opposite, or northern, bank of the Amur to the west of Khabarovsk.

The Japanese and Russians, by means of railway, motor road, port development and colonisation schemes, are feverishly checkmating each other alon<* the extensive Manchukuo-Siberian bor° der. And since each side is rapidly completing its "plan" one wonders when the construction completion will be transformed into an even more dramatic struggle for supremacy in Asia.