IN NORTHERN CHINA1

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 105, 6 May 1933, Page 13

IN NORTHERN CHINA1

AN INDEPENDENT STATE

NEW JAPANESE MOVE

- ; / PEKING, April 25. A movement to establish in North China a pseudo-independent State called Huapeikuo is widely reported in' the Chinese Press. It is predicted that renegade Chinese forces will, occupy the Peking-Tientsin area with Japanese assistance, and , establish, a puppet regime under the control of a Japanese garrison at Tientsin. . '■.' ;" . .'.'..",." The papers warn the Nanking Government to rush reinforcements northward if it wishes to keep the PekingTientsin area as part of China. Commenting on these reports, foreign observers agree that marked political changes are pending in North- China. : Some observers are of the opinion that the Japanese) will transfer Henry Ptii-Yi from the present Manchukuo capital, Changchun, to Peking. Ho is ,tlie heir to tho former Empire of China, being a descendant of the Manchus, and the present Chief Executive of the State of Manchukuo. Martial law has been declared in Peking:and Tientsin. Tho populace is in a panic ,'■ ■ ' Anti-aircraft guns aro being mounted Jon the pipings of old ramparts, and i preparations are being made to moyo the remaining art treasures to places of Safety. ■ . ■ : ' : Discussing the possibility of a politi■cal coup d'etat in the Peking-Tientsin region, a spokesman for the' Japanese Legation said no such movement would receive Japanese support. A widely-circulated rumour that the British Ambassador to China (Sir Miles Lampson) is negotiating for a SLnoJapanese armistice, is emphatically denied by British Legation officials. i "No such negotiations are in pro-' gress, and no proposals'have actually been, received by Sir Miles from either side, though the Ambassador is naturally keeping in close touch with the situation and carefully watching dovolopments," the officials said. '