DETERMINED PROTEST BY RUSSIA

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 2, 28 September 1937, Page 9

DETERMINED PROTEST BY RUSSIA

Bombardment Of Nanking

JAPAN HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR CONSEQUENCES By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright. (Received September 27, 7.5 p.m.) Moscow, September 27. The Ambassador, M. Mikhail Slavutsky, has delivered to Tokio Russia’s determined protest against the bombardment of Nanking and against the Japanese request for the evacuation of the Soviet Embassy. The Soviet again asserts that the Ambassador shall remain and allots full responsibility to Japan for any consequences of “these illegal acts.” It further declares, regarding a reference to Japanese reports that Chinese aeroplanes masquerading as Japanese intend bombing the Soviet Embassy with the hope of involving Russia, that Japan will be held responsible for any bombardment. I The Soviet has received a Note from China calling on her to take immediate steps to check Japan’s inhuman bombardments. China states that Russia should act without delay, as she is a signatory to the Kellogg Pact. ‘MIDDLE-OF-THE-ROAD’ POLICY British And United States

The appeal made by the United States Secretary of State, Mr. Cordell Hull, that China and Japan should settle their differences without further bloodshed, was echoed by the British Government following two long conferences that the Prime Minister, Mr. Neville Chamberlain, held at 10 Downing Street, with the Foreign .Secretary, Mr. Anthony Eden, Viscount Halifax, Lord President of the Council, and Sir Robert Vansittart. Permanent Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs. In the words of a communique issued after the meeting the Ministers “observed with satisfaction the close collaboration that has been maintained with other Governments, especially the American and French, and regard it as most important that such collaboration should continue.”

The meeting, made clear that Britain intends io follow the same cautious middle-of-the-road policy as the United States toward the conflict in China, states the London correspondent of “The New York Times.” On the one hand, she will-take “all practicable measures” —with emphasis on the word “practicable”—to defend British lives and the colossal British property interests in the Shanghai area. She will hold Japan and China strictly accountable for whatever damage they may do and she reserves the right to claim compensation from either or both. But on the other hand, Britain will not try. except by peaceful persuasion, to check what she knows to be a flagrant aggression by one power upon another. If any admission to this effect were needed, it came in a sentence of the communique that asserted the British Government would persist in trying to exclude Shanghai from the fighting area. The implication is that if Japan will only leave British property alone she can go ahead with her qims in China, much as Britain may deplore them as aims of outright conquest. She will simply do all that is “practicable” and will avoid complications wherever possible. Mr. Chamberlain’s Outlook.

The question may well be asked why Mr Chamberlain interrupted his vacation and hurried to London for th.e meetings if this was to be the only result of his journey. The answer is that he came more to discuss the situation with keen officials face to face than to make spectacular decisions. Mr. Chamberlain has shown already that he is very different from Mr. Stanley Baldwin in bis conception of the Prime Minister’s job. Not only has he an instinctive interest in foreign affairs that Baldwin lacked, but he sees no particular virtue in going fishing when dangerous events threaten British interests abroad. Mr. Baldwin liked io shrug his shoulders at such moments and give an Impression of unruffled calm; Mr. Chamberlain believes it is the Prime Minister’s duty to keep his finger on the pulse of foreign policy and to maintain direct touch with the officials in charge of the situation, whether be is on holiday or not. There are the inevitable complaints that Mr. Chamberlain is interfering too much, but the complaints do not come from the men with whom he deals.

The extent of British property threatened by Japanese guns and bombs is immense by any standards. The latest impartial estimates place the value of British interests in Yangtzepoo—the district of Shanghai most battered by the Japanese—at £180.000,000. The whole area north and east of Soochow Creek has often been termed ‘'the Japanese district” because several hundred Japanese small traders have established businesses there. It could much more rightly be termed the British district, for in it are British water, gas and electricity companies and large factories and warehouses. A New Factor.

British businesses in China formerly have been resilient in their recovery after disturbances. But a new factor ha s been introduced by the landing of thousands of Japanese troops and the sporadic occupation of industrial areas. Japan proclaims that she intends no harm to foreign interests, but it would be difficult for British businesses to be resilient under an army of occupation, as they have already discovered in Manchukuo.

Doubtless one of the questions discussed by the Ministers was what to do if Japanese troops—or retreating Chinese—invaded the International Settlement in large numbers. It is admitted here that the small international forces in the settlement could not hold out against a large-scale invasion.

It is recalled also that the integrity of the International Settlement at Shanghai was not one of the “vital interests” for which Britain announced last year that she would go to war if necessary. As catalogued by Mr. Eden in a speech at Leamington, these interests are the territorial integrity of the British Empire, France, Belgium, Egypt and Iraq. Translated into terms of the present conflict in China, this means that Japan need not fear war with the British Empire unless she attempts to seize HongKong, which even the militarists now in control in Tokio do not yet contemplate seriously.