MOST FEARED JAP.

Hokitika Guardian, 18 September 1937, Page 6

MOST FEARED JAP.

'lieut, cen. kenji doihara. REPORTED TO BE ASSASSINATED. Lieut.-General Kenji D.ihara, the most feared Japanese in China, has been assassinated. The Chinese Consul-General (Dr Pao) announced the news with singular taciturnity. It was as though Doihara was just another general, instead ol Japan s prime bogiemaii in the East —the lomentcr of the “incidents” which led up to the conquest of Manc-iiukuo, the “Japanese Colonel Lawrence,” as American newspaper correspondents c-ali him.

It was this charming, tubby little general who, when persuasion tailed, kidnapped timorous Henry lu-Yi anJ set him up on the puppet throne. And undoubtedly his hand is in the present Japanese drive to put the pallid Pu-Yi on the authentic Dragon Throne in Peiping. * * * Four months ago an American authority declared: “If Japan gobbles China it will be due largely to the efforts of General Doihara.”

Strange that the news of his death by treachery, probably the most welcome information which could greet Chinese ears to-day, is dismissed without gong-beatings and fireworks. Perhaps the Chinese do not quite believe it. Doihara has been “assassinated” before, and has bobbed up again, toothily smiling, miles from the scene of his “death.” The aftermath of his resurrection, has always been extraordinarily unpleasant for all Chinese in the vicinity.

Who’s Who in Japan tabs Doihara •‘Chief of Military Special Service Facilities at Mukden.” in fact, he was the Master Spy of the Orient. Not only did he fossick out facts about coming wars—he created those wars.

He was a gigantic agent provocateur for the Japanese army. In his fantastic secret corps lie employed Japanese who had mariied Chinese women. Buddhist missionaiies. gangsters, priests, White Russian taxidancers, who were eager to strike a blow at the Communists tlu-y hated, even American dentists and chemists. His personal attainments were remarkable. At the Military Academy, from which he graduated in 1905, begot a perfect knowledge of Chinese—not only the Mandarin tongue, hut many dialects—an extremely difficult achievement for a Japanese.

He admired Ming art, and could pay a host authentic compliments on a screen, a va s e, or a painting. He could reply to a mandarin’s invitation in perfectly turned vey.se. The frankness of his smile/ the courteous gestures of his soft, fat hands .charmed all who met him. About 1910 he was sent to China as a secret ambassador. His success was immediate. In return for his charm and about £15,000,000 which passed through his expenses account, he enabled Japanese firms to, (obtain priceless conces sions in Manchuria—shipping monopolies, mines, railways. This was an easy job, for he dealt with the corrupt Anfu clique who ran the Chinese nation from Peiping * * # Then he started to reorganise the Japanese Secret Service. When Henry Tu-Yi was do-throned in 1912, Doihara smuggled the spectacled youth into the Japanese Concession at Tientsin and kept him there to serve a Japanese purpose in later years. When Japanese generals (hut not .Japanese politicians) were ready to begin the conquest of Manchuria, Doi hara paid out hard cash to bandit war lords who embarrassed General Chiaiig Kai-shek’s government. The stage was set for the war of conquest, but Tokio still'needed to be convinced. Doihara convinced it. He staged the assassination of a Japanese officer. Then, on September 18, 1931, a section of the Japanese-control-led railway at Mukden was blown up presumably by Chinese. * * * He had given Tokio the loftiest mora reason for the Manchurian drive. From that moment riots followed Doihara wherever he went with his well filled purse. Henry Pu-Yi was a little diffident about leaving safe Tientsin for the imitation Dragon Throne, but a detachment of Japanese marines bore him off to Manchuria. Doihara had lost patience with the pleadings of the timourous Manchu heir. Although the Japanese gratefully accepted the American hint to refer to Doihara as their “Colonel Lawrence,” there is little similarity in the exploits of the two men, and none in their personalities. Lawrence was sympathetic toward his native followers. Doihara had no respect for the Chinese Instruments of his intrigue. Lawrence resigned because he disapproved of British policy vith the Arabs. Tt is impossible to imagine Doihara resigning or committing hara-kiri because Japan betrayed a Chinese war lord.