Unprecedented Unity Of All Parties in China

Manawatu Times, Volume 63, Issue 60, 12 March 1938, Page 6

Unprecedented Unity Of All Parties in China

SPIRIT NOT TO BE BROKEN. LONDON, Feb. 1(5. For the past week a confidential adviser of Marshal and Madame Chiaug Kai-shek has been in London. He is Mr W. G. Shepherd, a New Zealander, in a special interview to-day -lie gave an account of what, from his intimate knowledge of affairs at Chinese headquarters, he considers to be some of the chief factors in the present situa-

** Chiaug Kai-shek is the greatest man in China and has the confidence of the entire population because of the definite interest he has shown in the past four years in improving the livelihood of the masses,” Mr Shepherd said. “Out of this work or reconstruction has come a unity such ns China has never before known. The pressure from Japan has resulted only ia drawing the Chinese people closer in opposition to aggression and in their determination to build an independent, prosperous China.

“As a result of the unity of all the political parties in China,” said Mr; Shepherd, “it will be impossible for: Japan to break the spirit of the Chinese people, even though she succeeds in conquering their territory from Peking to Canton.

“Japan’s real problem at the moment seems to be that the • capable Chinese in public life have all left Japanese-occupied territory and now reside in the western provinces and will die rather than co-operate with the invaders. As the Japanese armies drive into China they fiud nothing but ashes, empty fields and antagonism on the part of the people who are left. “I find that public opinion throughout the English-speaking world is so strongly opposed to Japanese aggression that it will be extremely difficult for financial interests to work out any satisfactory plan of making loans to Japan for the reconstruction of the territory she has conquered. In the long run this may be the deciding factor in the war. Undoubtedly, Japan must have financial co-operation is she is to rehabilitate China and find a market for industrial products.” Brought up in Dunedin, Mr Shepherd, at the age of 20, went to study in the United States. For the past 18 years lie has been in China as a emissary of the American Board of Commissioners and Foreign Missions. He revisited New Zealand in 1927 and 1929. In recent years he has been confidential counsellor to Marshal Chiang Kai-shek and his wife an behalf of the Board of Commissioners in connection with the New Life Movement. He is described by the Times as a ‘ friend and intimate adviser’ to the Chinese leader.