WAR IN CHINA

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XVIII, Issue 136, 23 May 1928, Page 5

WAR IN CHINA

SOUTHERNERS SLOW PROGRESS MOVEMENTS OF BRITISH TROOPS. PROTECTIVE MEASURES BY U.S. [British Official Wireless.! ; (Received 23, 10.55 a.m ) Rugby, May 22. Making a statement in the House of Commons regarding the situation in China, Commander G. Loc-ker-Lampson said that no great progress had been made by the Southern ■forces in their advance on Pekin and Tient-sin, and that the latest reports showed that the Northern forces were offering resistance south of Paoting. He added that recently a battalion, less two companies, of the Shanghai Defence Force, had been despatched from Shanghai to Waihaiwei, where, for some time past, there had been one company. This movement had been undertaken primarily for training purposes, and in order to give the troops the benefit of a more congenial climate: but they would be available for the defence of British lives and property at Tien-tsin if necessary, and w r ere only about a day away. NEGOTIATIOnFbREAK DOWN. CHANG’S PROPOSAL UNACCEPTABLE TO JAPANESE. [United Press Assn.—By Cable— Copyright.! [United Service.] (Received 23, 12.15 p.m.) Tokio, May 22. Negotiations between Chang Tso-lin and the Japanese Legation at Pekin for Chang’s orderly withdrawal into Manchuria appear to have broken down, the Foreign Office here stating that Chang’s agent approached the Minister, Yoshizawa, at Pekin on Tuesday night with a proposal that the Northerners would immediately withdraw into Manchuria provided Japan would stop the Nationist advance on Pekin and guarantee that the Pekin-Tien-tsin area would not be allowed to fall under Nationalist control. Yoshizawa refused, declaring such a step would be a violation of neutrality. Chang’s desire is, apparently, for a sort of buffer state for the Pekin-Titn-tsin area, which would be between the Nationalist domain and Manchuria War Office advices substantiate this analysis, declaring that a major battle is already developing between Southern and Northern forces with Czltminarv fighting now under way, frreeni the Shansi army, which is pert of the Southern attacking force, and the Northern troops. The War Office states that about 200.000 of the Northern forces are opposing 220,000 attacking Southerners along a line from the Nankow Pass, around Pekin through Paoting and Tsangchow, which is about 60 miles southward of Tien-tsin. AMERICAN EVACUATION. PLANS COMPLETE FOR WITHDRAWAL. [Australian and N.Z Press Assn.) (Received 23, 8.55 a.m.) Washington, May 22. It is authoritively stated that the Government has decided upon the evacuation of all Americans from North China in case of extreme emergency in the increasingly menacing military situation. The plans, already completed, provide for the withdrawal not only of civilians but of the American armed forces also. The first step would be to remove the Legation and all civilians to Tien-tsin, followed by the withdrawal of the American troops to that city. The State Department at Washington announced to-day that it had sent a Note on May 15 to the Chinese Nationalist Foreign Minister at Hwang demanding that the murderer of the American missionary, Dr. Walter Seymour, be arrested and executed. The Note was delivered at the Nationalist Bureau at Shanghai for transmission to Hwang. The Note also demands the arrest and punishment of the officers responsible for looting the American mission. JAP. RETALIATION. [Australian and N.Z. Press Assn.] (Received 23, 12.15 p.m.) Shanghai, May 22. Japanese merchants .have decided on retaliation to the Chinese boycott, bv refraining from purchasing Chinese export goods until the boycott is lifted.