WAR CLOUD IN CHINA.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19235, 26 January 1926, Page 9

WAR CLOUD IN CHINA.

THIffiAT PROM RUSSIA. % RED ARMY MOBILISING. ATTACK BEING PLANNED. QUARREL OVER RAILWAY. OIIANG ARRESTS MANAGER. SOVIET'S IRE AROUSED. By Telegranh—Press Association—Copyright. (Received 7.5 p. 111.} A. rind N.Z.-Renter. LONDON. Jan. 25. Reports to hand from Oslo. Norway, state, that Russia is seriously and feverishly preparing for war against China. The army is being mobilised and munition factories are working at full pressure. "Messages received in Paris also indicate that Russia is actively preparing for war ngainst China, because Marshal Chang Tso-lin, the Manchnrian war-lord, had arrested M. Ivanoff, the Soviet's manager of the Chinese eastern railways, for refusing to allow Chinese military passengers to travel free on trains. The Oslo correspondent of the newspaper Le Temps says the Soviet's threat is not an idle one. He confirms the statements as to the mobilisation of the Red army and the activities at Russian munition factories. The correspondent says an extraordinary meeting of Commissars at Moscow is engaged in planning a campaign. Railway material is being assembled for the despatch of troops to China. A rigid censorship is in operation over all telegrams from China and Japan. Arrest of Soviet Official. Despatches from Peking state that the Chinese military authorities arrested M. Ivanoff and also three departmental chiefs. The Soviet's military attache had previously arrived at Harbin, lie was arranging for the transportation of Russian troops from the eastern to the western sections of the railway.

Following upon the receipt of a telepram' sent by the Russian Ambassador to China, M. Karakhan, threatening to occupy the railway with troops, the Chinese have now appointed a White Russian as manager and engineer of the southern section of the railway. He is running the trains south of Harbin. The Soviet Embassy claimed that the arrests had created a most serious situation and that they constituted a grave insult and a violation of the 1924 agreement.

The Embassy protested to the Chinese Foreign Office, and demanded the immediate release of M. Ivanoff, reserving the right to demand satisfaction. The Chinese Foreign Office thereupon * telegraphed to Chang Tso-lin at Harbin urging the immediate release of M. Ivanoff, and stating that other outstanding questions would be settled immediately. Key to the Embroglio. Mr. Percivai Landon, in a telegram to the Daily Telegraph from Peking, expresses the opinion 'that the control of . the Chinese eastern railway is the key -to the embroglio with Russia. This railway has been the property of the Soviet since the White Russians were defeated, but Chinese soldiers claimed the right to use it. When M. Ivanoff demanded payment from the Chinese, Chang Tso-lin arrested him. By so doing he definitely challenged the authority of the Soviet in China where Russian propaganda has been costing the Soviet £3,000,000 a year. When the Russians failed to convert China to bolshevism through the Chinese leaders the Soviet began to stir up the Chinese masses to violence by a policy of direct stimulation. This, however, proved a fiasco.

A Russian attack, adds Mr. Landon, will be likely to establish Chang Tso-lin's position as the saviour of China.

DISMAY IN MOSCOW. UNEXPECTED DEVELOPMENT. FEAR OF JAPAN'S ACTION. (Received 11.4 p.m.) LONDON. Jan. 24. Tho Riga correspondent of the Times says advices from Moscow show that tho Bolshevik leaders are dismayed by tho developments in Manchuria. Apparently the Soviet's action was intended merely to hamper the mobility of the So-called national armies in China, and Chang Tso-lin's determined retaliation came as a, bombshell to Moscow. The view seems to prevail at Moscow that open and effective intervention is impossible in the present circumstances, especially as it is believed that it would Involve a clash with Japan.

It is heid that Chang would not risk what he is risking without an assuraiico of Japanese support. The reported movement of considerable Red army forces toward China is regarded as mere bluff, as also is the veiled threat contained in tho three days ultimatum issued by M. Tchitcherin, tho Soviet Foreign Minister:

CAVALRY HOBBES. ORDER GOES TO IRELAND. Ban. LONDON, Jan. 24. The Weekly Dispatch states that Mr. Michael Beary has been commissioned to huy troop horses in Ireland for the Soviet cavalry to the value of £60,000. He is authorised to pay from £4O to £6O for. each horse. Payment, is to ho made after the. sale of stocks of Russian flax now in London warehouses.

COMMERCIAL RIGHTS. JAPAN AND MANCHURIA. !fouter. TOKIO. Jan. 21. The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Baron Bhidehara, stated in the Lower House that Japan intends to take steps to establish her commercial rights in Manchuria o:.i a permanent basis if the Peking conference rav.eil the extra-territorial question. In the meantime, however, she wished to withhold publication of a con-. Crete plan which was being investigated.