CHINA AND JAPAN

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXVI, Issue 3439, 5 March 1932, Page 7

CHINA AND JAPAN

RUSSIA'S POSITION. Asked what was Russia's position in the Eastern tangle, Mr. H. F. Von Haast, at the Masonic Hall in Welling ton Tuesday night, said it was his opinion that Russia and Japan had an understanding, and that Russia expected to get a share of Mongolia. He could not otherwise understand why Russia kept so quiet when the Japanese had taken Harbin. Mr. Strachan, the other speaker under the auspices of the Institute of Pacific Relations, took a somewhat

different. view. The main effect of what had happened would be the removal of what had been a buffer State between two nations which politically and almost in every other way were irreconcilable. It would make the situation between Russia and Japan more tense than ever, but it was probable that during the Russian Five Year Plan the situation would not lead to open war. What would happen afterwards it was hard to say. The Japanese business invasion in search of big dividends through cheap Chinese labour was excellent material for the labour groups and agitators, and there was a strong Communist element in China now, making every effort to convert China to Communism. It had a big hold. There were Soviet Communist States in China already. China was not a country that lent itself to democratic government on our own lines, and some form of Communism might appeal to the Chinese.