JAPANESE AND CHINA.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVI, Issue 17140, 21 April 1919, Page 5

JAPANESE AND CHINA.

GRAVE PROBLEM RAISED.

CONFERENCE ACTION URGED.

Australian and N.Z. Cable Association. (Heed. 5.5 p.m.) . LONDON. April ID.

The Daily News, in a vigorous leader, demands that the Peace Conference shall rectify the colossal wrong under which China is suffering owing to the Japanese refusal to quit Shantung. This, says the News, raises one of the gravest problems at present before the world, involving the whole future of the Far East. China's grievance is unanswerable. Japan, whose services to the Allies were inconsiderable, was extremely vigorous in the capture of Kaiau-Chau. Japanese troops landed 150 miles outside the leased German territory, disregarding international law, which the British respected. The whole of the Shantung Peninsula was occupied, together with the entire railway. Japan refused to withdraw from Shantung after the fall of KaiauChau.

Japan then presented the famous 21 points, demanding power to officer the army, control the police, finance the mines and manufacture firearms. China, under pressure, agreed, and Japan to-day is practically master of Northern China. There is grave danger that the Chinese will fall into Japanese hands, and be exploited and militarised. This means the closing of vast resources and inexhaustible markets to Europe and America. The emergence of a new military system of incalculable dimensions will overshadow Asia, and perhaps ultimately wreck the world. The moment to deal with the menace is r.ow. If allowed to develop it may never be overtaken. The silence hitherto maintained regarding Japan must cease, and the issue faced on the clear principle that China belongs to the Chinese, and that Japan must go.