THE REAL CAUSE.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 6 November 1924, Page 5

THE REAL CAUSE.

\ ; OF CHINESE STRIFE. WHY THEY FIGHT. INTERESTING DESCRIPTION. ay CABLE—PRESS ASSOCIATION —COPT RIGHT. PEKING, Nov. 4. Feng-Yuh-Siang’s cavalry entered the Tientsin central station at midday after quelling slight resistance. They then inarched along the line east to the 'station which is within the foreign settlement, with the object of disanning f trains containing Wu-Pei-Fu s troop's. A fusilade developed in the statum, in which an Amnamese soldier was? wounded. The firing ceased upon a Chihli-ite general’s command. Tuan-Shi-Jui has telegraphed the Yangtsze provinces, • requesting the authorities not to allow Wu-Pei-Fu to land. • [lt is somewhat difficult to follow the trend of events in China sufficient to appreciate exactly what the cable messages received almost daily mean. The following article, however, gives a, concise statement of the position, and the reasons at the back of the whole trouble.] HONGKONG, Sept. 16. The war which had for long been spoken of as “inevitable” in China has at. last broken out, and promises soon to be in full blast. Beginning with a clash of arms between the military forces of the provinces of Chekiang and Kiangsu, it quickly fanned into flame the smouldering embers of the fend between the two great war lords of' China—Wu Pei Fu, who provides the military backing for the Government at Pekin and dominates the whole of the. Yangtse Valley, and CKang Tso Lin, the war lord of the Manchurian provinces. Between these two powerful militarists a bitter rivalry •has long existed, and since the spring of 1922, when there was a test of strength in which Chang was worsted and compelled to l-etire his great armies from the vicinity of Pekin into Manchuria, a war of revenge has been regarded as certain at some time or other in a future not very remote; for Chang has ever since been assiduously improving the organisation of his army until it has come to be looked upon as probably the most efficient military machine in China, though Wu Pei Fu’s army is also highly regarded by the military experts and probably has the advantage in numbers. So that with these two great forces moving forward to do battle with each other, the fighting is likely to be desperate and the casualties heavy.

Up to the time of writing the fighting lias been confined to the two provinces of Chekiang and Kiangsu, until to-dav, when there is news that Chang Tso Lin’s forces have captured the citv of Chaoyang, in the province of Chihli, which shows that he means to move quickly. Before discussing the fighting, something should he said as to the* immediate causes of the war. Chekiang is a province which claims to he indenendent of the Central Government at Pekin, while Kiapgsu is loyal to the Pekin Government. Of course, there is the usual dispute as to who actually began the war, hut it is perfectly clear that for Kiangsu it is a war in furtherance of the policy of Wu Pei Fu to secure the unification of the country bv force. Marshal Chi Hsieh Yuan, the Tupan (Military Governor) of Kiangsu. whose headquarters are at Nanking, in an interview before the actual outbreak of hostilities, expressed himself somewhat in these terms: ‘‘Everybody talks about the unification of China. Some believe, as I hitherto believed, that this unification might be achieved by negotiation. But what are the facts? We have been negotiating for almost ten years, and we ale still negotiating. No authority is recognised. So-called independent generals have established themselves in positions of authority where they are able to keep the country from unification and prolong the internal and international difficulties that beset China. Although I am a military man, I am a man of peace. If we could unify China by peaceful methods I should lie in favour of it above all else; but one grows despairing as the years’ pass and the state of the country grows worse. The time has come when there must be action.” /

The first blood in the war was drawn on September 3, at a point some fifteen miles from Shanghai, and it soon became clear that Kiangsu had the support of the Pekin Government and Wu Pei Fu and that Chekiang could count unon the support of the uncrowned King of Manchuria, who claims foreign there hv “the will of the people.” The ;' r ’’ th nowhere in China does •tie will of the people” count w>>'"> ;t runs comiter to that of their selfimposed rulers.