CAUTIOUS OPTIMISM

Evening Star, Issue 22953, 10 May 1938, Page 9

CAUTIOUS OPTIMISM

CHINESE GENERALISSIMO'S FORECAST PROTRACTED AND BITTER STRUGGLE ' EXPECTED Press Association —By Telegraph—Copyright HANKOW. May 9. A mobile Chinese column from Chahar, which is under Japanese suzerainty, crossed the Great Wall into China proper, attacking the Japanese at Changpingchow, 22 miles north-west of Peking. Another column is attacking Yangliuching, nine miles west of Tientsin. Marshal Chang Kai-shek informed the Hankow correspondent of ‘ The Times ’ that he expects a protracted and hitter struggle, in which he has grounds for cautious optimism. “ NO TERRITORIAL AMBITIONS'! CAPABLE CHINESE STATESMAN WANTED. TOKIO. May 9. Confidence that a capable Chinese statesman would emerge and form an amalgamated central Government was expressed by Mr Hirota in an interview. “ China must be governed by Chinese, with Japanese recognition and Japanese assistance. Chinese authorities will govern occupied areas, proving that Japan has no territorial ambitions." AIR RAID ON NANSUGHOW ITALIAN CATHOLIC MISSION A SHAMBLES. SHANGHAI, May 9. (Received May 10, at 11.50 a.m.) The Red Cross director (Dr M'Clure), who has returned from Nansuchow, which was bombed! on May 5, estimates that 370 were killed, of whom 100 died in the Italian Catholic Mission,. which is a shambles of blood, misery, and terror. At Chungking, 100 Chinese were killed and injured. Seven thousand homes were burned, and 30,000 people are homeless as the result of a fir.e in the poorer quarters.

USE OF GAS BY JAPANESE REPORT TO LEAGUE COUNCIL. GENEVA, May 9. (Received May 10, at 10.40 a.m.) Dr Wellington Koo has notified the League that the Japanese several times used gas on th© Shantung front in a desperate effort to overcome the resistance.