The Northern Advocate Daily “NORTHLAND FIRST” THURSDAY, JANUARY 27, 1938. The Sino-Japanese War And Its Causes

Northern Advocate, 27 January 1938, Page 6

The Northern Advocate Daily “NORTHLAND FIRST”

THURSDAY, JANUARY 27, 1938. The Sino-Japanese War And Its Causes

Registered for transmission through the post as a Newspaper

WHAT is the truth about the war in China? The seeker after information who turns to the publicity agencies of China or Japan will find his confusion of opinion doubly coil founded. This was impressed upon members of the Whan gam Rotary Club, who perused a quantity of literature exhibited at the weekly luncheon this week. According to stories emanating from Japan, the Japanese are in China as angels of light whose sole purpose is to save the Chinese from themselves. Other stories represent Japan in the role of the proverbial parent who feels more than his son the chastisement he considers it incumbent upon him to inflict on his offspring. Chinese versions give the Japanese policy and methods a very different complexion. What is the truth.about the war? In a radio address to the American people on September 2 of last year, the Japanese ViceMinister for Foreign Affairs explained the underlying causes of the conflict—the driving forces at work in China today. The ultimate aim of those forces, as declared by the leaders of China, ] ie said, is to unite and revitalise China into an organised nation. In that aim the Japanese nation was sympathetic. It certainly hoped to see such a China come into existence, for then only could real stability and security in the Far East be enjoyed. Unfortunately, however, these leaders had chosen the wrong means to achieve their purpose: for several years they had carried on a relentless anti-Japanese policy, as a means of obtaining united national support for the Nanking Government. The Japanese Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs then proceeded to touch the heart of the controversy concerning the real cause of the war. “It is common knowledge,” he said, “that the Communists have been playing a significant role in tills nation-' ■wide campaign against Japan. Itis also well known that these elements are supported by the Communist International, which aims at the destruction of the existing structure, both political and social, of the entire world. These are the forces directing the destinies, of China today. These are the forces—one antiJapanese, the other Communistic —with which Japan must contend. We have repeatedly invited the attention of the Japanese Government to the danger of Communism, and simultaneously asked it to suppress effectively the anti-Japanese agitation. But, far from listening to us, the Chinese Government joined hands with the Communists in their campaign against Japan.”

To what extent is Japan sincere in her declaration that she has waged war on China for the sole purpose of protecting the Chinese nation against Communism? To what extent is her declaration merely camouflage? Who knows? The Chinese version of the cause of the war does not credit Japan with altruistic intentions or designs. It states very plainly that Japan, actuated by a desire to become the paramount Power in the Far East, has adopted an aggressive policy for which there is no excuse.

An Englishman who has been for some years a professor in a Government university in Hong Kong, who has travelled widely in China and studied trends of thought, repudiates Japan’s claim, that China is sympathetic towards Communism. He says that the contrary is the case. As a matter of fact, the so-called Communism associated with the “Red” armies which have been fighting in China during the past ten years was merely an expression of rural discontent. The agrarian question had been grossly neglected up to 1933, but when the provinces were recovered this aspect of national policy was resolutely tackled and rural reconstruct ion became a cardinal feature of the Nanking Government’s activities, so that finally the justification for Communism disappeared. It was finally merely a form of dissatisfaction with Nanking Government for not being sufficiently and actively 'anti-Japanese.

The Japanese Vice-Minister of! Foreign Affairs and the Englishman referred to have probably provided the key to the question why Japan should have launched a major war to avenge an incident which, compared with desperate things done by Japanese since the war commenced, was insignificant.

Is not the real cause of the war to he found in the fact that the Chinese people had come to a realisation that they should not longer dissipate their strength by fighting among themselves, but that they should present a solid front to the nation which was steadily increasing its hold upon China? Japan obviously believed that this unity of the Chinese nation was destined to become an established fact in the very near future. Realising that she would have no hope of success against a united Chinese people, she struck before unification, could be achieved.

That is the opinion expressed by Mr James Bertram, a New Zealand Rhodes Scholar, who investigated the incident in Sian, where Chiang Kai-shek was arrested by the “Young Marshal” and converted to the belief that only when Chinese ceased to fight Chinese would it be possible for them to save their nation from the rule of Japan. Mr Bertram has recently published a book, “Crisis In China,’ which contains a masterly survey of events: leading up to the Sian incident and ultimately to the war launched by Japan. We are definitely of opinion that the writer has placed his finger on the real cause of Japan’s move against China.