THE New Zealand Herald. AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. THURSDAY, MAY 13, 1920. JAPAN AND CHINA.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVII, Issue 17469, 13 May 1920, Page 4

THE New Zealand Herald. AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. THURSDAY, MAY 13, 1920. JAPAN AND CHINA.

Events are moving towards a new • era in China, So much may be inferred from the organisation of a ' consortium to pool the railway and other economic concessions held by foreigners in the Republic. During the past few years foreign influence alone has prevented the disintegration of China; supported by power- . ful financial interests it will now be exerted to compose the quarrels which have rent China and prepare the country for the transformation which waits on the judicious application of capital and labour. China is always a paradox; never has she been so paradoxical as during I the period of the Great War. Adventurers, mercenaries and traitors have carried on a comic opera war , which was supposed to represent the , political rivalries of the north and south. In reality it represented nothing but the infinite patience of China and the hopeless ineptitude of Chinese officialdom. Armies moved over the country, eating it up like locusts, rival governments in Pekin and Canton pledged the credit of the people for fabulous sums of money, venal governors, many of them self-appointed, bled the peasantry. Yet China weathered the storm, as she has weathered so many others. Pestilence may sweep whole provinces, famine may slay its tens of thousands, floods may ruin vast districts, and still China lives. The indefatigable industry of the Chinese saves them from destruction. It is true millions live on the verge of starvation, but still they live, and Sir John Jordan, who as a British diplomat has known China for 43 years, declares that the Chinese are now living under better conditions than ever before. European machinery and European ways arc slowly being introduced, steam- ■ boats appear on the canals and ' motor-cars on the roads, and they ; no longer excite fanatical opposi- ' tion. Even the peasants are be- ' ginning to realise that they facili ' tate the creation of wealth, and j mean in the concrete more food 1 better houses and better clothing. » Besides the fatuous quarrel be- ' tween north and south, now appar- ' ently dying of inanition, one factor ! is profoundly disturbing the i economic tranquility of China that ( is, hatred and distrust of Japan, v The feeling is far more than a dip- t lomatic expression. It is popular * and intense. Weak governments v have conceded far more than the Chinese people are willing to con- I cede; the real sentiment of China li

• has been expressed in a wonderfullj , sustained' and - effective boycott ol i Japanese trade. Unfortunately, 1 agreement between the two nations :J hangs fire, and on the- vital question be of Shantung negotiations have not *{ even yet been commenced. China, £ resentful and suspicious, demands " that Japan should return the Shan- « tung Peninsula in pursuance of her lie pledge. The Japanese reply that ie the pledge, does not prevent them SS . • • i . .* D . retaining the economic concessions § granted to Germany, and it is upon 5j these they wish to negotiate. The a deadlock intensifies the fears of the £} Chinese. They believe that Japan »- intends to retain all the most imie portant strategic and revenueproducing areas in the Kiao-Chau Bay, including the customhouse, • harbour, wharf and railway terminus, and that in the negotiations Japan hopes to secure control of the whole northern railway system of China, from the heart of Shantung to the end of South Manchuria. These apprehensions may be base- , less, but it is for Japan to dispel them. They proceed from bitter experience of Japanese encroachments since 1915, upon the part played by Japanese interests in perpetuating faction in China and upon the willingness of the Tokio Government to take advantage of every Chinese embarrassment to strengthen its economic hold of the country. Japan may intend to be as good as her word—there is no direct evidence that she does not—but, if so, it is time she demonstrated her sincerity. It is a case for open diplomacy. The special interests Japan has already acquired in China raise a rather difficult question for the European Powers. It is easy enough to understand Japan's attitude. She has 60,000,000 people in a territory only half as large again as New I Zealand, aad her population is increasing by 700,000 a year. More ' than half her people are agricul- ( turists, and the average size of a I Japanese farm is about .two-thirds ' of an acre. Her natural resources, j though not insignificant, do not in- , elude coal, iron, or petroleum in ! any quantities. In China she seeks 1 an outlet for her surplus population ! and a field from which to supply her ( deficiency of metals. Her economic i preponderance in the territory of ' her vast neighbour is already an { accomplished fact, and if it be c exercised benevolently it will be no 1 more objectionable than the in- ' terests enjoyed by the other nations. J But—and this is the crux of the whole matter—the Chinese fear it l will not. They hate and distrust f the Japanese, and until Japan is ** able to allay their suspicions the {J economic revival of China must « be prejudiced. The more liberal 1 elements in Japan realise this, and J the world must hope for the best from fhnii. mnijomd'n. :~fl.. Ti I .

_ . ...vmviuw.ij uiuucmc, it, will be a pity if the progress of China is delayed by the aggression . of Japan. Wealth so great lies J waiting development, a trade so enormous is to be had for tho creating, that Japanese and Western : civilisation alike will lose if China is allowed to suffer through inter- . national jealousies.