WAR IN EAST.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 101, 2 May 1938, Page 7

WAR IN EAST.

CONSULS DISAGREE.

Chinese Reply to Japanese Statements. j CO-OPERATION AND WAR. (By Telegraph. —Press Association.) WELLINGTON, this day. j The interview with the new Japi auese Consul-General, Dr. Kuchi j Guuji, last week, has drawn a reply j from the Chinese Consul, Mr. Feng J Wang. I China's policy, he said, rested firmly lon the foundation of the three peoples , principles enunciated by the late Dr. 1 Sun Yat Sen. During the last decade ' supreme efforts had been made by the Kuomintang and the National Government to prevent the spread of Communist doctrines, and to suppress ! violence of Chinese Communists. I The long drawn-out campaign against I Communists and the great cost it in- . volved were facts too well known to ', require lengthy narration. More recently , the Communist party, awakening to the acute danger of foreign aggression, t realised that national salvation could be achieved only through whole- ! hearted enforcement of the three peoples* principles. »

J Consequently, on September 22. the Communist party formally declared, firstly, renunciation of th? theory an£ practice of violence; secondly, cessation of all activities aimed at Bolshevising China; thirdly, the abolition of Chinese Soviets; and fourthly, abandonment of the Chinese Red Army. In view of those developments it might be said that the whole Chinese nation was devoted to the three peoples' I principles to-day, striving under the guidance of the Generalissimo, Marshal Chiang Kai-shek, to resist foreign aggression, and to realise Dr. Sun Yat j Sen's lofty ideals. I Facts could not be obscured bv pro--1 paganda, however cleverly contrived. It could not be over-emphasised that the present unhappy state of the relations between the Chinese and Japanese \ras entirely due to Japan's ceaseless aggression against China. . In regard to the claim that Japan wanted co-operation with China, Mr. Ting Wang states that she wanted domination, not co-operation. She could have co-operation the moment she abandoned her traditional policy of force, ceased from acts of aggression and recalled her forces. The_ growing menace of C-ommuniem in the Far East was the real issue in the conflict. The Nanking Government was dominated by Russian j influence, and the threat of Japan had ! reached the etage where forbearance wae no longer possible, declared Mr. Kuchi Gunji, who arrived at Wellington last week to take up hie duties as first Coneul- ■ General for Japan in Xew Zealand. "We do not ask the outeide world to i favour Japan againet China itself, but I we do ask that if you listen to the Chinese ' assertions you should ako lkten to our , 6ide," he said. "The Nanking Government'e policy consistently has been antiJapanese, and matters have reached the stage where Japan has no alternative but ta take action in her own interests." Russia wae Japan's enemy and must remain so. Japan had no territorial ambitions in China. Her foreign aepiratione j were purely economic, in order to allow i the development of her industries at a rate that would enable her growing population • to lire.

"GOING TO WIN." Miracle of Unification of Chinese. WAR CORRESPONDENT'S VIEWS LONDON, April 28. "A miracle is happening in China, and I am convinced Japan is going to lose jthe war," said Mr. Vernon Bartlett today. Mr. Bartlett, who is a journalist and i war correspondent, was addressing a meeting at the Queen's Hall in aid of China, at which £100 if#s collected. He added: "The people of China, with astonishing unity, are building np an j infinitely better army than Britain is . aware." FURIOUS FIGHTING. PENDULUM OF BATTLE. HAXKOTC, May 1. The Chinese claim that in a terrific counter-attack they recaptured Tangcheng and arrested the Japanese drive to Lunghai. Also, they say they repulsed a Japanese counter-attack at Yihsien. Later the Japanese recaptured Tangcheng. which has changed hands twice in 12 hours. The Chinese twice raided the Japanese aerodrome at Wuhu, and claim to have destroyed 21 aeroplanes.