PEACE EFFORTS

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 26, 1 February 1932, Page 7

PEACE EFFORTS

CONSULAR CONFERENCE

OUTCOME INDEFINITE

(Received Ist February, 11 a.m.)

SHANGHAI, 31sfc January. The Consular Body Defence Committee conferred all day with Japanese and Chinese officials, t>ut the outcome was unsatisfactory. A lengthy conference concluded in the presence of the American and British Consuls. The general suggestion was made by the foreign commanders that the Chinese should withdraw 2000 metres from the Settlement and the Japanese retire to their original positions, but mutual objections were raised by the contending parties.

An announcement was made, following the conference, that a truce would continue until further notice. A formal declaration of war has not yet been made.

llt is now fully realised that the safety of the Settlement is seriously jeopardised and the defence forces are 1 working feverishly on a second defence line round the Settlement proper. All foreigners have been warned to be prepared for immediate evacuation within the internal defence lines. The foreign commanders realise the difficulty of defending a twenty-mile front, should the Chinese make a mass attack on this area. Intelligence Corps reports estimate tha£ twenty thousand Chinese are concentrated less than four miles from the_ boundaries, and are actively preparing for attack should the armistice cease.

General Gleboff, formerly of the Tsar's army, is now raising a strong force of White Eussians to assLt in the defences.