Promised Land Of Asia

Hawera Star, Volume LI, 28 May 1932, Page 14

Promised Land Of Asia

J' APAN, overcrowded and ambitious; Manchuria, badly governed and rich in natural resources ripe for development;

Great Britain. and the United States, eager to preserve the “Open Door” policy of the League Covenant, the Kellogg Pact, and the Nine-Power Treaty by which all may co-operate but none dominate; the League of Nations anxious at all costs to avoid conflict between two of its members —such, in a nutshell, is the Manchurian crisis as presented by Colonel P. T. Etherton and Mr 11. Hessell Tiltman in “Manchuria, the Cockpit of Asia.” Although Colonel Etherton was formerly Consul-General in Chinese Turkestan and Additional Assistant Judge of lI.M. Supreme Court for China, the book is mainly sympathetic to Japan. Manchuria, the authors contend, is vital to her; the day may come when the mineral wealth of the region, the food drawn across

the Sea of Japan, and the footing on the mainland of Asia will mean the difference between her survival and extinction as a great Power. Tokyo . . . cannot afford to permit international jealousies, or the moral conscience of nations which already possess abundant territories elsewhere, to rob it of the fruits of a costly war and a quarter of a century of treasure and labour. It is due to Japanese initiative and foresight, they add, that industrial conditions in Manchuria are to-day in advance of those in China proper. The Chinese population there numbers thirty millions; as late as 1905 there were only 5,000 Japanese in the area; to-day, the Japanese, including Koreans, number only 650,000. On the other hand, Japan claims to have sunk investments aggregating two million yen in commercial and industrial machinery; trade is now nearly fifteen times greater than it was in 1907; there has been no development, comparable to this, in China proper in the last twenty years; Chinese control of Manchuria, in fact, is chaotic and reactionary; the Japanese mean to go ahead, for what is a matter of trading rights to Great Britain or the United States is a vital political principle to Japan, ordained by fate to remain a great Power only so long as there is uninterrupted control over the raw materials she needs.

Hence the advance of the Japanese troops in September last, the real aim of which, the authors state, was the expulsion of the Nan-king-controlled Government at Mukden, the setting up of an independent Government with Japanese advisers, and the clearing of the country for development unhindered by obstructing officials and marauding bandits. China will oppose the loss of three of her richest provinces by every means short of actual war, but in the end she will probably have to agree to a position not very different from that

Manchuria As The Japanese See It

of 1926, when Marshall Chang-Tso-Lin was virtually indejDendent of the Kuomintang and held sway over Northern China. The authors allow for these alternatives: a Japanese mandate exercised under the possible control of the League of Nations, or the setting up of a Chinese administration independent of Nanking and dependent upon the goodwill of Japan; but they conclude that for good or ill, the future of Manchuria will be fashioned in Tokyo. Other nations may insist upon the “Open Door.” Susceptibilities may have to be considered. Camouflage may be employed to conceal uncomfortable facts; but the central facts will remain—Manchuria, the Promised Land of Asia, will in the immediate future go forward to a new era of swift development under the guiding hand of Japan, in the interests of the world in general..

The prospect of strenuous opposition by the Great Powers, the certainty of the relentless march of Japanese policy, will undoubtedly make Manchuria the cockpit of Asia for half a century to come.

Japan may use soft words to the League; her weapon in Manchuria is her strong right arm. This was evident in the bombing raid on Chinchow which involved heavy damage to property and loss of life last autumn. The bombs were supplemented by leaflets which apostrophised Chang Hsuehliang as “that most rapacious, wanton, stinking youth,” and proceeded: “The people of Chinchow should submit to the kindness and power of the army of the great Japanese Empire and should oppose: and prevent--the establishment of Chang Hseuhliang ’s' Government, otherwise they will be considered as decidedly opposing the army of "the great Japanese Empire, in which case the: army will ruthlessly destroy Chinchow.”

Subsequently the Japanese Government justified itself to the Council of the League on the plea that it would have been a breach of duty to leave the Chinchow population a prey to anarchy, adding: “Therefore, the Japanese forces have, at considerable sacrifice, expended much time and energy in securing the safety of persons and property in districts where native authority had become ineffective. This is a responsibility which was thrust upon them by events, and one which they had as little desire to assume as to evade.”

The League machinery, state the authors, has enabled all nations with the Far East to co-operate to a degree that would otherwise scarcely have been possible. The presence of an influential Commission on the spot must act as a check to irresponsible action and baseless rumours designed to justify military aggression.