Chinese Imbroglio

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XVII, Issue 13, 29 December 1926, Page 5

Chinese Imbroglio

Russians Joining Anti-Reds STRIKING BLOW AT BOLSHEVISM. CAPTURE OF SHANGHAI REMOTE. —.l IBy Cable—Prese Assm-OopyrlghtJ (Received 29, 11.45 a.m.) , Shanghai, Dec. 28. The Russian element in the Chinese war is becoming more pronounced • daily. Thousands of hungry and destitute whites, formerly driven out of their homes in Russia by the Soviet and driven to take refuge in China where they are forced to beg or work as Chinese coolies, are joining the anti-Red Chinese army, hoping to strike a blow at Bolshevism. For the first time in many years China is divided into two main factions in a clear-cut issue of which the Russians taking advantage bv joining the respective armies and resuming on a minor scale the former Russian revolutionary warfare. The Shantung Governor, (Sian Chung Chang, who is the principal provincial ally of Chang Tso-lin, Pekin’s military dictator, and is a Japanese protege and a staunch antiRed. commands several thousand white Russians, forming an armourcar division. He achieved prominence in internecine warfare in the vicinity of Shanghai last year by piercing the enemy’s lines and capturing Shanghai without firing a shot and holding it until the arrival of the Chinese rearguard. This identical division has crossed the Yangtsze and is stationed at Nanking waiting for the signal to advance on Shanghai. To protect it against the approach of the Cantotlese an understanding exists between Bun Ohuan-fang and Chang Qiung-chan whereby the latter preserves Shanghai against Red attacks while Bun Ohuan-fang concentrates on the western front against the advance of the Reds Irom Hankow. ANTI-RED ALLIES MANOEUVRING. Anti-Red allies are now manoeuvring m the south-west section ot Central China and forming defences impregnable against the Reds, despite the presence of Red in the ranks. The Shanghai-Nanking railway is cleared and ready lor Shangtung troops to rush to Shanghai in the event of the Cantonese penetrating the western defences, but the Red capture of Shanghai is remote unless treachery occurs.—(A. and N.Z.)