EARLIER MESSAGES

Manawatu Times, Volume 62, Issue 167, 16 July 1937, Page 5

EARLIER MESSAGES

TENSION EASES IN NORTH CHINA JAPANESE AT WANGPING WITHDRAW PEKING, July 14. The tension has temporarily relaxed with the withdrawal of the majority of the Japanese troops from Wangping to Fengtai, thus reducing the risk of clashes. The train service to Tientsin has been partly restored. The secretary of the Japanese Embassy stated: “It is possible to settle the incident locally if Nanking does not intervene. Japan does not want more than fulfilment of the first agreement, providing for the punishment of culprits, an apology, the suppression of anti-Japanese agitation, and the co-oper-ation of the Japanese against Communism. ’’ Meanwhile officials at Hopei and Chahar insist that this “humiliating’' agreement was never signed, at least by responsible persons. They contend that there have been only verbal truces providing for the mutual withdrawal of troops from specified points in the Wangping area. The Chinese population of Tientsin was in a state of panic this evening as a result of 600 Japanese troops, with cavalry and a motorcycle section, marching through the main street of the Chinese area of Fengtai. The people believed the Japanese were occupying the city. The crowds fled, the shopkeepers put up their shutters, and the trams were brought to a standstill. An incident was averted when Chinese militiamen who held up tho Japanese were instructed to permit them to proceed.