Mobilisation For War Ordered in Manchuria

Manawatu Times, Volume LIV, Issue 6991, 17 August 1929, Page 5

Mobilisation For War Ordered in Manchuria

Feverish Chinese Preparations 1 Australian Press Association. Received Saturday, 2 a.m. SHANGHAI, Aug. 16. China is actively preparing for war. A Mukden message states that the Chang hsueh Liang, the Manchurian overlord, has issued orders for the immediate departure of 60,000 mixed troops for the Siberian border, which has been divided into eastern and western fronts. A Harbin message reports that unprecedented military preparations are supported by a naval mobilisation, while the manufacture of ammunition is proceeding at a feverish pace. Soviet raiding parties continue sudden visits to Chinese towns on the border. Three towns, Chao hsin chin, Chung hsin chin and Sanchien fang, are still occupied by the Russians. Manchuli reports the arrival of two additional Soviet divisions and reinforcements of cavalry and a labour corps. The discovery of a dastardly Soviet plot at Harbin was officially announced to-day. A gang of Reds plotted to blow up the ifon bridge spanding the Sungari river and to destroy the shipyard. The arrest of the plotters led to the discovery of a huge cache of small arms, machine-guns and bombs. Chinese Remain On The Defensive. SOVIET FORCES RETREAT AFTER SEVERE FIGHTING. SHANGHAI, Aug. 16. Confirmation is arriving of the recommencement of open warfare between the Chinese and Soviet forces in the Sungari and Amur river districts. Although neither side has formally declared war, three Chinese delegates to the Russo-Chinese conferences have withdrawn and negotiations have failed. The Chinese generals entrusted with the defence of the frontier are reported to he offering a stout defence and even repulsing the Russians after a prolonged engagement. At Chao-Hsing-Chen, Chinese gunboats actively participated. The evening newspapers are carrying scare headlines, “War at Last.” Nanking officially confirms the report of several hours’ severe fighting at the junction of the Amur and Sungari rivers, reinforced Chinese troops forcing Soviet detachments to retreat across the river. Reports of fighting on other sections are attributed to White Russian attacks on Soviet forces. Notwithstanding several urgent messages from Mukden reporting a Soviet invasion of the Chinese borders and a resultant grave situation, the National Government is maintaining a comparatively quite attitude, President Chiang Kai-shek stating that although the situation is tense, the Government is fully resolved neither to change its present attitude nor to permit China’s military action to exceed the limit of defence. In the meantime, China definitely refuses to restore, dho Chinese Eastern Railway to its previous status. piU