CHINA AND JAPAN.

Evening Star, Issue 21013, 29 January 1932, Page 8

CHINA AND JAPAN.

Tension in tho Far East is still acute. Since September last, when the Manchurian trouble developed, the ancient racial bitterness between China and Japan has manifested itself in open hostility. Notwithstanding the efforts of the Council of the League of Nations, war on a h'g scale would have broken out but for China’s impotence. She is a powerless giant. Torn by friction, anarchy, and general disorder, without an efficient army, she can merely look on in helpless chagrin while Japan pursues her resolute way with characteristic efficiency. There has been a certain amount of fighting in Manchuria. It is probable that many Chinese lives were lost, but the incidents merely served to strengthen the Japanese position and show their superior power. No doubt in the events that have happened in the last few months there have been faults on both sides. The Tokio Foreign Office has taken up an implacable attitude. It is alleged that the military commanders acted on occasions in a high-handed and arbitrary way, and that the Government seemed to turn a deaf ear to the voice of the League. Yet, when all the circumstances are considered, there is much to be said for the case of Japan. Sho has immense interests in Manchuria, having established these under treaty, and when much of the country was little better than a wilderness. Now many millions of Chinese, having found conditions in China proper intolerable, have trekked into Manchuria. Tl]e result has been in the last year or two marked Chinese antagonism to Japan. The position has been aggravated by the depredations of lawless bands of unattached soldiery, who established a reign of terror in the remoter districts. Representations to Nanking were without result. The Government there had neither the power nor, it is declared, the will to restore order and guarantee protection to the people. Indeed, Tokio definitely asserted that the Nanking Government encouraged anti-Japanese action in Manchuria. Waiting for some plan by which tho League could influence China to amend matters would necessarily mean long and tedious delay, for the Chinese are adepts in the art of procrastination.

To Japan, therefore, it seemed that the hour for action had arrived, and she set herself to bring order out of chaos in tho distracted province. Japan has not defied the League, of which she is a member. She has been conciliatory in her relations with that body, but firm in her decision to restore order, seeing that China is unable to do so. The Government at Tokio has intimated that it will welcome the visit of the League commission to Manchuria, and has reiteradsed that it has no territorial designs on the country and will faithfully observe the open-door policy there. At the meeting of the League Council this week Japan’s representative emphasised that nothing had been changed in Manchuria, “ The Chinese population are still there, with only one difference—they are now living and working in a peaceful atmosphere.” Two phases of the crisis are attracting attention at tho moment. Trouble has broken out at Harbin. This city, in which there is an international settlement, is one of tlie key positions in Manchuria. Over three hundred miles north of Mukden, it is an important junction on the Chinese Eastern railway. The conditions there are obscure, but Japanese troops have been despatched to take charge of the situation. Tho second phase relates to Shanghai, where the intense anti-Japanese feeling resulted in attacks ’on Japanese subjects. Now tho Tokio Government has issued an ultimatum demanding redress and a guarantee of the cessation of hostile propaganda. The position is acute, but there seems no alternative for China. Sho must accept tho demands in full or submit to drastic action, which has already commenced.

In the meantime the Great Powers are anxiously watching events. America is showing especial concern, being jealous of her trade interests in the Far East and her prestige there. She is trying to induce Great Britain to join with her in taking diplomatic action in the crisis. It is indicated that the British Government is unlikely to adopt the course suggested. Evidently it considers that there is not sufficient reason to embark on impolicy that might

.strain tlio traditional friendly AngloJapaneso relations. Movements in the Pacific are of absorbing interest to the Washington Administration, and every act of Japan is watched with hawklike keenness. American diplomacy aims at keeping in bounds the rising tide of Japanese power—the tide that rose so high during the World War. Britain views it from another angle. The latest messages from Shanghai indicate developments, as a result of Japanese action, of most serious import, for considerable fighting is announced.