CHINA’S NORTH-WEST ROAD TO RUSSIA

Press, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23537, 15 January 1942, Page 4

CHINA’S NORTH-WEST ROAD TO RUSSIA

[By AYLWIN HOGG in th( NORTH CHINA, October 30. What is the importance of the Chinese north-west international motor road running through Kansu and bmkiang to meet a branch of the transSiberian railway within 60 miles ofthe Chinese border? Little attention has been paid to the road since it was first completed in 1938. There have been no much-publicised assurances, as with the Burma Road in the south, of the Chinese Governments mination to keep the road open at au costs, no news that so many hundreds of lorries are dashing across the desert from Kami to Lanchow. . Nevertheless, in spite of its lack ox publicity, the North-west International Road remains of vital importance both in fact and in potentiality. From 1938 onwards large quantities of tion and supplies came steadily through, probably for a long time averaging as much as 80 tons daily. Massive Russian six-wheelers became a common sight on the roads all the way from Lanchow to Chungking/ Until the Chinese could set up .their own transportation system, Russian drivers were sent dowp right through Kansu to Shensi and Szechuan. Russian Influence Russian road signs and Governmentrun guest houses lined the road, ai the same time thousands of mule cans and tens of thousands of crmels were mobilised to bring down petrol and less important supplies and to take back the wool, fur, skins, and tea ‘hat were the main items on the Chinese side of China-Soviet - barter agreeThis period, up to the end of. 1939, probably coincided with the maximum amount of Russian influence in China proper. In Lanchow, the provincial capital of Kansu, besides a good number of Soviet airmen and military advisers, there were many commercial attaches to manage the of the barter business. The city blossomed out with a galaxy of Russian shop signs advertising watches, silk stockings, and clothing: Russian language night schools were attended by hundreds. Russian pictorial magazines appeared in the libraries. Meanwhile, because of the presence of the Russians and the passage of military supplies, a number of new restrictions were imposed on foreigners visiting or living in Lanchow, with the perverse result that a good deal of unwelcome curiosity was aroused. , No one, however, was more anxipus to prevent the infiltration of Russian Influence than the Chinese Government itself. Three things made the reduction of such influence possible during 1940. The first was the diminished flow of military supplies frmn the Soviet end. After her accord with Germany Russia either decided to cut down her aid to China for diplomatic reasons or felt the need to conserve all military resources for her own use

“Manchester Guardian.”] until the international situation had cleared. The flow of goods down the North-west International Road fell oil steadily, and a traveller could walk for days along it without seeing a«y, thing more than the ordinary dise that has been going to anlA*) along this route ever since the time of Marco Polo. The second factor was the successful training of a large number of Chinese lorry drivers and mechanics, removing the‘need for Russian drivers to cross the border into China proper. And the third was the opening up of oil wells in Northern Kansu, between Lanchow and the Turkestan (Sinkiang) border, with promise of independence from Russian supplies for all Chinese transP °By early 1941 the supply of petrol was said 'to be enough for all northwest transport services, while tens of thousands of workmen were still busy

enlarging the supply. The strength of the Chinese desire to keep clear of Russian influence may be seen in the fact that the entire equipment for boring, distilling, and piping has been brought up with immense labour, and at the cost of thousands of tons of precious petrol from Yunnan, in the south, rather than allow Russia to supply it from just over the border. the stiffening of the democratic front after the Battle of Britain, which caused Anglo-American aid to China to take definite shape, seemed to encourage Russia once more. Some thousand lorry loads were due to psss over the North-west Road in 1941, partly pf Russian material, partly of United States help through Vladivostok. How much of this Russia has been able to send, now she is at war with Germany, is, of course, not easy to discover.