WORLD HAS DEBT TO CHINA

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 241, 8 July 1938, Page 10

WORLD HAS DEBT TO CHINA

Sydney Man’s View Of

War In East

“SAVED FROM MENACE OF JAPAN”

“China has saved the world from the menace of Japan; her defence of her country is steadily depleting the wealth of Japan, both in man power and finance. ' Japan will not be able to undertake another major war for many years. We of Australia and New Zealand owe China a special debt of gratitude,” said Mr. L. 8. Cumming, Sydney business man, interviewed in Wellington yesterday. He said that he had travelled through Korea and Manchukuo with the Generalissimo and staff of the Japanese Army immediately after the outbreak of hostilities a year ago, had. talked with General Chiang Kai-shek’s private secretary and had obtained a considerable insight into the situation in the East.

Mr. Cumming said that he went by train through Korea and Manchultuo to Tientsin, within four days of the incident which precipitated hostilities. He saw trainloads of munitions and equipment, cavalry and infantry, and guns, being hurried down to Tientsin. It gave him the impression that Japan was putting into fulfilment a carefully prepared plan. “I have had considerable military experience ; I was trained at Duntroon Military College and served in the Great War,” he said. “I know enough about mobilisation of troops to be aware that it would have been quite impossible to entrain all those troops and supplies within four days.” The Generalissimo in charge of the Japanese Army and his - staff shared the observation car of the train with him, said Mr. Cumming. He talked with members of the staff and was told that the war would not last three months. Thunder of the Guns. While he was in Tientsin, fighting was still taking place near the Marco Polo Bridge, just outside the city. As he sat dining on the top of a Tientsin hotel, above the music of the Russian orchestra he could hear the thunder of the guns ten miles distant. The Japanese had taken possession of a large area of land near the racecourse and turned it into a military camp. They erected barracks and cleared land for an aeroplane base. They marched 1000 cavalry through the streets in order to impress the Chinese. They closed the port to shipping, took possession of the railway, and practically isolated Tientsin. Without justification or military pretext, they bombed the crowded part of the Chinese quarter, killing hundreds of defenceless non-combatants in ruthless style. ‘‘How a nation that prides itself on enlightenment, and attainment of civilised standards can repeatedly cause such terrible distress and suffering to a kindly and peace-loving people is incomprehensible,” he said.

Japan’s Policy.

“Premier Tanaka of Japan in 1928 declared Japan’s foreign policy as first the annexation of Manchuria, then the subjugation of China, and finally the domination and control of the Pacific. Japan’s great army and navy was built up for this, and held in check until the nations of Europe were engrossed in their own problems. Japan has been carrying out this policy since. “The Japanese pretext of territorial expansion is not borne out by facts. I myself have seen that in the north of her islands she has ample room for further development—splendid fertile lands that would accommodate many more people. There are only 25.000 Japanese—and 20,000,000 Koreans, who are not pleased by Japanese rule —in Korea. Along the South Manchurian Railway not Japanese, but Chinese, have carried out the development and settlement of the Japanese territory. “Great Obstructionists.” “As for talk of trade expansion, there will be no open door for trade if Japan subjugates China. The Japanese are the greatest obstructionists in the world. They will secure trade expansion for 'themselves by closing it down for the rest of the world. That is what happened in Manchukuo, and it is what is happening at Tientsin and the parts of the coast in Japanese hands. “If it is the aim of Japan to crush the Communist doctrine she claims is dominating China, why does she not start with its source in Eastern Russia, only 600 miles from the west coast of Japan and much more dangerous to her than China?

“But I do not think that Japan wi.ll conquer China. Ray Chang, private secretary to Chiang Kai-Shek, told me that China was unlikely to be able to defend the coast against the powerful Japanese navy and army; but inland they were prepared for a determined resistance and their armies were better than the Japanese eve#- imagined.”