JAPANESE IN CHINA.

Press, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20587, 1 July 1932, Page 18

JAPANESE IN CHINA.

OPEN LETTER FROM SHANGHAI. THE RECENT CRISIS. In an open letter to the League of Nations Commission of Enquiry into the Manchurian situation, the Chamber of Commerce of Shanghai has collected evidence to show that Japan and not China was the aggressor in the recent crisis. A copy of this letter, which has been forwarded to the Editor of The Press, is accompanied by a pamphlet containing extracts from the two foreign newspapers published in Shanghai on "a month of reign of terror" from January 28th to February 27th, 1932. The letter to the Commission, which is dated March 7th, begins in these terms:— "At this stage it is quite futile to argue with Japan about right and wrong. But as the Japanese, while perpetrating every imaginable transgression and atrocity, moralise at the same time on the righteousness of their cause something ought to be said. « 4 Unscrupulous Propaganda.'' "Thero is no lack of people in the world who are deceived by Japan's energetic arid unscruplous propaganda. Then there are also some self-styled China experts, accustomed to all sorts of unrestrained transgressions, who find this an opportunity to take side with Japan to defame China in the eyes of the world. For these reasons the true aspects of the present crisis have been hidden from the public abroad. Moreover, China has not been able to follow Japan's examples to demand satisfaction through destruction and massacre; therefore the world's attention has not been drawn to her grievances, though they are far more numerous and beyond comparison with those alleged by Japan. Even those who are most emphatic in their condemnation of the Japanese actions in Manchuria and Shanghai are under the impression that China is at least to be blamed for furnishing excuses for these actions. Sections of the letter deal with Provocations, Protection of Nationals, Suppression of Bandits, Boycott, China's Disunity, and Japan's Over-Population. Treachery and Violence. Under the first of these headings, tho one with which it is chiefly concerned, the letter states:— "An intruder breaks into, and occupies a house. The rightful owner is unable to eject him, but is forced to make the best he' can of the situation. Any show of lack of enthusiasm in carrying out the conditions imposed by tho intruder calls forth severe blows and kicks for tho owner. Now, to carry his abuse still further tho intruder throws ihe owner out of his own house, at the same time announcing publicly that repeated provocations on the part of the owner have compelled him, to expel the later as a measure of selfdefence. This is an exact simile of the relation between China and Japan before the Shanghai affair began. The Japanese have declared that the people in the West are unfamiliar with the historical background of the Sino-Japan-ese relations, and have therefore misunderstood -the position. The history of the relations between China and Japan for the last half-century has been nothing else but a record of despoliations through treachery or violence on the part of Japan. "Anyone at all acquainted with the history of the East will recall hosv Japan alienated Formosa from China; how she annexed Korea and 11 iu Kiu; how she served on China the 21 Demands; how she violated China's neutrality both in the Russo-Japanese War and in her siege of Tsingtao; how she repeatedly supplied ammunition and funds to factions in rebellion againsttlie .Central Government; how sho acquired concessions by trick or force, such as the mines of "Yentai and Penhsiliu; how stye assassinated Marsha' Chang Tso-lin; how she connived at the massacre of Chinese in Korea, lasting for over ten days, and resulting in 143 deaths, 345 wounded, and 72 missing for the Chinese. China's Irregularities Small. "The Japanese are prone to accuse us of encroachments on her rights and privileges and violations of treaties and agreements. What are these rights and privileges? What are these treaties and agreements 1 Are they anything better than thefts %nd plunders 1 Assuming that thefts and plunders are sacred possessions not to be returned to their original owners, assuming that rights and privileges acquired through the medium of treachery and force, and treaties and agreements signed at the point of the bayonet have undisputed validity, the Japanese have even gone beyond the limits they themselves-have fixed. Whatever irregularities China may have been guilty of have been insignificant and in the nature of neglect and reluctance to carry out the undertakings to which she had been compelled to-agree. Japan's provocations are by far the graver. Any one of her numerous aggressive actions will more than offset all the alleged provocations on the part of China." Tho letter ends with a demand that the military occupation of Manchuria by the Japanese, which had lasted for six months, should end at once. '' Then, and only then, should the unsettled issued be submitted to the world court. China will welcome such an opportunity to clear up her case.''