CHINESE TORMOIL

Manawatu Standard, Volume L, Issue 74, 22 February 1930, Page 10

CHINESE TORMOIL

PREPARATIONS FOR WAR. PEKIN, Feb. 19. Under cover of an exchange of pacificatory telegrams between the pivotal leaders in the threatened clash between the Northern and Southern factions in China, both sides are rushing preparations for war. A stream of troops continues to pour northward from Nanking and ieng-Yuh-Siang’s chief men are holding a military conference at Sian-fu, the capital of Shensi province, which is expected to result in a fresh declaration of hostility toward the Nanking regime. SERIOUS STATE OF AFFAIRS. LONDON, Feb. 20. Advices from China to British official circles suggest that armies are marching under Feng and Chiong. It is not easy to ascertain what is happening, but it is rumoured that something pretty serious is in the wind. MURDER CAMPAIGN. CRIME IN FRENCH CONCESSION. SHANGHAI, Feb. 19. After twelve years’ freedom > from political assassinations, Shanghai was astonished this morning to discover what apparently foreshadows the re•uscitation of the murder campaign. Last night seven armed Chinese entered a house in the French concession and shot dead two Chinese members of the ‘Left Wing of the Kuomintang and two others are expected to die. The householder, also a member of the Left Wing, owes his life to the fact that he was absent. The gang knocked at the door ana immediately shot the boy who opened it then rushed upstairs and entered a ’ room in which four Chinese were sitting. The gang opened fire hitting all and left immediately. In the street they encountered a passer-by, whom they regarded as a possibly dangerous witness as to their identity, so they shot him, and then escaped. _ T'ho police allege that the Nanking Government is responsible for having professional assassins. The dead men were both prominent in Kuomintang circles, the former being a member or the Executive Council and regarded as the chief henchmen of Wang Chingwei, the leader of the Leftist 1 arty and the personal enemy of Chiang Kai-shek. The assassinations are causing uneasiness among many prominent Government officials residing in the foreign concessions, which hitherto had been looked upon as sanctuaries.