THE H.B. TRIBUNE. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 28, 1926. CHINA’S PROBLEM.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XVII, Issue 12, 28 December 1926, Page 4

THE H.B. TRIBUNE. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 28, 1926. CHINA’S PROBLEM.

It has been left to the British Government to formulate and to its representatives in Shanghai to submit to other Governments concerned some more or less definite proposals for a readjustment of international relations as they affect China. The real and full significance of these proposals can probably be appreciated only by those who have some intimate personal knowledge of the country and people and of the working of the various treaties, conventions, concessions, and grants that have been made and entered into over a period embracing several generations. As the most adventurous, enterprising and persistent of the European pioneers in Far Eastern trade it is a quite natural result that Great Britain has secured a very large share in these material privileges. Consequently, their abandonment or modification will doubtless involve for her a good deal more of sacrifice than for any other nation. Despite this, however, though possibly under the compulsion, of circumstance, it is from Great Britain that we have the first practical movement towards a general revision of conditions which, in their cumulative effect, have become intolerable to the people upon whom they have been gradually imposed, first by one nation and then by another.

Tn view of what we are told to-day it is worth while to turn back to the Washington Conference of 192122, to which reference is made in our cable message. Most of us have some notion of the agreements that were reached with regard to the limitation of naval armaments and b.w: I land fortifications that it

was hoped would help to secure peace in the Pacific over at least afairly lengthy period. By these it j was intended, among other things, , that China should be relieved from any further aggressive exploitation, Thejse agreements were made more particularly binding upon Japan, the United States, France and the British Empire. But, beyond this, there was a “Nine Power Treaty,” which, was signed by all those . represented at the conference, and under which all the signatories i undertook to respect the sovereignty, independence, and terri- . torial and administrative integrity of China. The declared purposes in view were to give China the opportunity to develop a stable Government, to maintain the principle of equal opportunity for the commerce and industry of all nations, and to refrain from taking advantage of conditions in China to seek privileges that would abridge the rights of citizens or subjects of friendly states. Further indication was given of an eventual desire to restore to China the complete control of her taxation system, which had fallen very largely into the hands of foreigners, and also to put an end to the “extra-terri-torial” jurisdictions which western nations had established. These along with other items of less general import, provided what looked like a fairly promising basis for a concerted and entirely friendly movement towards meeting and satisfying the strong national sentiment which had begun to demonstrate itself in China. Unfortunately, however, the first condition precedent to the outside Powers entering upon the fulfilment of their well intentioned programme had got to be provided by China herself—the institution of a stable Government with which these Powers could negotiate, deliberate and co-operate. Far from there being any prospect of such a Government being set up, matters in this respect have gone from bad to very much worse. The Chinese Government, that centred at Pekin, which then enjoyed diplomatic recognition and which was represented at the Washington Conference, has lost whatever little authority at home it then had. It is confessedly powerless to make even a pretence at ruling the country, which is now split up into half-a-dozen militarily controlled factions, none of whose leaders can lay claim to supremacy, or to any assured hope of securing it. There have not been wanting suggestions that the outside Powers should take a hand, by way of military assistance, in establishing in authority such one of these warring administrations—if such they may be called—as gives best promise of being able to assist to the ends in view. But students of history point out that intervention such as this has almost invariably stirred further the antipathies already existing and, in the end, left conditions worse than those it was intended to remedy. Their suggestion is that' the only feasible alternative offering at the moment is to regard the disruption of China as likely to be permanent, to extend recognition to the various independent Governments that have set themselves up, and then make an endeavour to carry out with ( them piecemeal the policy embodied in the Nine Powers Treaty. Whether ■ there is some such idea as this ' underlying the proposals now submitted by the British Government to its co-signatories of the Treaty cannot yet be said. Its foreshadowing may, however, possibly be seen in a scheme of taxation, such as that mentioned in the cable, to be applied separately for the benefit of the respective provinces in which it is raised.