OCCUPATION OF HANKOW

Evening Star, Issue 23100, 28 October 1938, Page 9

OCCUPATION OF HANKOW

TROOPS LAND FROM THE YANGTSE JAPANESE CONCESSION IN RUINS SERVICEABLE GOODS REMOVED BY CHINESE Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright HANKOW, October 26. Ten thousand Japanese troops landed to-day from 30 ships on the Yangtse, after which naval and military officers jointly “ occupied ’’ the city. They were welcomed by a score of Chinese bearing a huge banner, otherwise the city was practically deserted and virtually cut off. Some of the fires are still burning. The biggest destruction was in the Japanese concession, which is a mass of smouldering ruins. The Chinese, before evacuation, removed a vast amount of portable goods, which possibly would have been serviceable to the Japanese, including factory machinery and pontoons, and even iron sewer covers. DAMAGE IN CANTON AMOUNTS TO AT LEAST £100,000,000. LONDON, October 26. The ‘ Daily Telegraph’s ’ Hongkong correspondent says the estimated damage in Canton is at least £100,000,000. The damage to the steelworks and the arsenal, in Hanyang, and the cotton spinning and other factories in Wuchang, is estimated to exceed £30,000,000. British trade with China through Hongkong has been brought to a standstill since October 15. War supplies are being shipped via Cacao, and to French Indo-China, whence they are despatched through the province of Yunnan. HEAVY FIGHTING IN PROGRESS CHINESE REARGUARDS RESISTING. LONDON, October 26. The ‘Daily Telegraph’s’ Shanghai correspondent says: “Heavy fighting is in progress as the main body of the Chinese is retiring to the south-west along the Hankow-Canton railway. The rearguards are stoutly resisting Japanese attacks.”

BRITAIN'S PREDOMINANCE IN FAR EAST DECLARED ENDED BY JAPANESE AMBASSADOR. BERLIN, October 27. (Received October 28, at 8 a.m.) The Press publishes an interview with the new Japanese Ambassador to Italy, Mr Shiratori, in which he declared that Britain’s predominance in the Far East had ended, and China was becoming a second! Manchukuo. END OF WAR FORESEEN JAPAN WILL NOT SHARE VICTORY WITH POWERS. LONDON, October 27. (Received October 28, at 1.25 p.m.) The Berlin correspondent of ‘ The Times ’ states that Mr Shiratori, interviewed by a German correspondent, identified the fall of Hankow with the end of the war, but foresaw that it would be 10 years before a new China was created. A number of independent Governments would probably be constituted under a President on the American model, with a military, political, and fiscal union with Japan, which had no territorial aims. China would retain ownership of Hainan Island. Japan would not share her victory with the Western Powers, whose rights, however, would be respected. English predominance in Eastern Asia had ended for ever. German technicians and traders would be given preference. Totalitarianism would supersede Liberalism in Japan. German business and official circles do not welcome Mr Shiratori’s statement, realising that friendly German and Japanese relations have not prevented interference with German trade in the Japanese controlled areas, while the experience of Japanese methods in Manchukuo makes their extension tor China like a nightmare.

THIRD PARTY INTERESTS TO BE RESPECTED CHINESE CONSIDER CONFLICT ENTERS NEW STAGE. LONDON, October 27. (Received October 28, at 12.5 p.m.) The Hongkong correspondent of ‘ The Times ’ says a Japanese, Major Mutsutant, specially conveyed the Japanese army’s respects to the Governor and naval and military leaders in Hongkong and gave repeated assurances that third party interests will be respected. The Chinese report that over 100 students were killed in a bomb raid on a school in northern Kwantung. Japan's total casualties are computed at 75,000. The Governors of the Hunan, Szechuan, and Yunnan Provinces declare that the country unanimously approves of the orderly evacuation of Wuhan with a view to conserving military strength for prolonged warfare. They add that the conflict had entered a new stage in which China’s difficulties, though increased, would be far less than Japan’s. The Governors urge able-bodied persons not to evacuate their-home towns, but to participate in the armed defence of them.