China and the Rule of Law

Dominion, Volume 26, Issue 30, 29 October 1932, Page 16

China and the Rule of Law

The moment we speak of the rule of law we find that the present, condition of China falls far short of its criterion and therefore demands poUtical, social and economical treatment of a fundamental kind before the Chinese canmake progress at home or play a stable part in affair's abroad. If Chipa had put her house in order there might have been no Manchurian crisis of 1931; and, therefore, the Chinese themselves are responsible for offering the militarists of Japan an opportunity which they were not slow’ to seize. “In a word, the prime factor in the puzzling equation of the Ear East is the domestic predicament of the Chinese people. It is a problem of capital importance. None the less, progress has been made, not indeed in visible improvements of the condition of the people, for, in many ways, their condition is worse, but in devising the right way to treat it “There is a grave danger that the crisis between China and Japan may turn the attention of the Chinese themselves from this supreme task and divert their energies to a prolonged guerilla warfare, in which reconstruction must inevitably languish and militarism take a new hold of the popular mind. At this point in the problem international influence, brought to bear by the League, may save the day.