HIGHLIGHTS from THE CABLES

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 14, 17 January 1940, Page 7

HIGHLIGHTS from THE CABLES

,N TO RUSSIA.

WHEN THE PUPPET CAME TO LIFE.

WANG CHING-WEI, Chinese Puppetelect, carrying out his duties of serving his Nipponese masters with due obedience and humility, is threatening Chinese Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek with peace on Japanese terms or else . . .

Not so long ago, however, the Japanese conquistadores, who had spent months of adjusting the wires and setting the stage to dangle their pet puppet before Chinese eyes, were dismayed to see him wriggle a bit, stand up on his own legs and come right out with some shocking!) - out-of-character statements. Through his "Central China Daily News," Wang, one memorable day early last December, said: "Japan's willingness to make j>eace with China does not signify friendliness, but Japan's inability to defeat China." Japan, he declared, must either co-operate economically witli China as an equal, 01 withdraw entirely. These and one or two other amazing statements seemed to indicate that

WHAT VICTORY WOULD ME

lI7ITH the Red Army hammering unsuccessfully at the Mannerheim Line, and letting loose over two thousand shells and bombs on one point alone, it will be seen that Russia is making a tremendous outlay in her attempt to conquer Finland, while the cost in lives already must have far outstripped the most pessimistic estimates of the Soviet General Staff. Russia is a country where it does not pay to predict setbacks, and the shock must have been all the more startling to the Commissars on that account. There have been all sorts of theories why Stalin decided to set about the "Finnish warmongers," and one of the most likely is that, following the Hitler technique, he had decided that all the lands that belonged to the Czars must be returned to the Soviet. Should his army finally conquer Finland, Rusia will have reestablished domination over 277,148 square miles of territory stripped from her after the Great War. , Here is what she lost in the war settling up: Finland, 133,000 square miles; Estonia, 16,955;

Wang had begun to feel himself in a strong position to bargain. Powerful Japanese factions wanted him installed as head of the "Chinese Government" as soon as possible. But even Wang, who was educated at Tokyo University T does not trust the Japanese, and he has consistently refused to take office except on four conditions: (1) Conclusion .it a water-tight peace treaty; (2) return to the Chinese of railroads, customs, native-owned factories; (3) partial withdrawal of Japanese troops; (4i guarantees of eventual complete withdrawal except from North China and Manchukuo. The bold statements lie made in December indicated that Wang Ching-Wei was beginning to have some hope for these demands. But, on the face of tc-day"s news, it seems that the vital essence has left the body of the puppet who once came to life, and he is once again dancing on the strings pulled by his cunning little masters.

Latvia, 24,400; Lithuania, 30,500; Poland, 49,150; and Bessarabia (to Rumania), 17,143.

Before the Finnish campaign Russia won from Poland the Western Ukraine and White Russia, a total of 71,750 square miles. The acquisition of 22.G06 square miles more than she lost is explained by the fact that some of the territory formerly belonged to Austria. Germany, however, got a strip of onceRussian territory in Central Poland, including Warsaw. Mutual assistance pacts with Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia, together with military and naval bases, made the three Baltic States her virtual protectorates, and the propaganda experts, given time, will bring them directly under the hammer and sickle. The conquest of Finland would leave only Bessarabia and the German occupied strip of Poland still separated from Russia as she was in 1914. However, considering that she regained, in effect, 127,000 square miles at virtually no cost, the 133,000 square miles of (•'inland, if they are ever conquered, will figure as a comparatively expensive acquisition in the Soviet balance-sheets.