CHINA & JAPAN

Hokitika Guardian, 21 June 1938, Page 5

CHINA & JAPAN

RESULT OF FLOODS JAPANESE ATTACK STOPPED. (United Pi ess Association—By Electric Telegraph—Lopyrigiu). LONDON, June 19. The Shanghai correspondent ot the “Daily Teiegrapii" says that tile fiouds will have a major ciicct cm the war. The Japanese high Command will In.ve to change its plans diasticaliy,. because the nortneru communications naze ceen cut and the mechanical columns have been bogged and brought, to a standstill. This has confined the offensive against Hankow to the Yangtse valley vviiich is itself in danger ol inundation. Marshal Uiiaug Kai-Shek can much more easily conduct his defence against this single line of attack. One-third of Kiukiang is already submerged, and loads and railways es- j sential t 0 the original Japanese plan of I envelopment are .inundated ofr scores of miles. The Chinese are taking advantage of the situation and successfully counter-attacking. The flow of waters lias compelled the Japanese to withdraw from the Peiping Hankow railway, and the highways atTencheng, another objective, are also threatened. The Lunghui district is impassable. The maximum floods are expected in July and August.

The floods in China now cover an area of 1090 square miles. Two thousand villages are totally submerged, and 1500 are partly submerged. PEACE MOVE IN THE NORTH. LONDON. June 20. The Peiping correspondent of “The Times’ 7 reports that special interest- attaches to the strong appeal for peace, issued af the' week-end by the Provisional Government, because if it is not Japanese-inspired it obviously has warm official Japanese support and approval. The appeal dilates on “the sacrifices of the Japanese and the suffering of the Chinese” in the last, year, and declares that it will take a century for the country to recover

It urges Marshal Cliiang Kai-Shek to acknowledge defeat and cease fighting. and asks the Hankow leaders to join the Provisional Government. The appeal is interpreted in some quarters as evidence that the Japanese are anxious to end a war which is drawing them deeply into the interior at an ever-increasing expense of men and money. v SELLING REFUGEES. HONG KONG. June 20.' The British-owned “Hong Kong Herald’’ alleges 'that Chinese girls aged from 14 to 21. mostly refugees from Canton, Swatow. and Amoy, are being sold in the secret slave market in Hong Kong for from £8 to £l7. JAP. NOTIFICATION. OF EXTENDING OPERATIONS (.Jteceivod this dav at 1.30 p.m.) TOKIO. June 20. Count llgaki has sent a, note to Foreign Ambassadors warning them that lighting in China is likely to spread over a huge area, embracing half of China. Foreigners are requested to evacuate territory between Yellow River and Indo-Chinese border, or otherwise identify their property clearly, and inform Japanese authorities ol their whereabouts. Ugaki also stated it might bo necessary to bomb Chinese military establishments outside the area indicated. which includes Hankow, Canton, and most of the towns ot the i coastal area, south of Shanghai.