RISKS IN MANCHURIA.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20988, 26 September 1931, Page 8

RISKS IN MANCHURIA.

The state of affairs in Manchuria seems to have improved. A withdrawal of Japanese troops from the occupied area has begun, and their commander has promised to cooperate with Marshal Chang Hsuehliang, the Manchurian war-lord, in maintaining peace and order. In the reported motive for this—a wish on the part of Japan to avert intervention by the League of Nations and so to localise the incident—there is a feasible explanation, but it really opens up the question as to whether the rivalry which occasioned the clash should not become at once the subject of discussion by the League. Its covenant expressly provides for intervention without there being an actual outbreak of war, in such a region of friction as Manchuria is fated to be. By Article 10 "the members of the League undertake to respect and preserve as against external aggression the territorial integrity and existing political independence of all members of the League; in case of any such aggression or in case of any threat or danger of such aggression the Council shall advise upon the means by which this obligation shall be fulfilled." Article 11, after emphasising that even a threat of war, whether affecting any member of the League or not, is a matter of concern to the whole League, adds this —"lt is also declared to be the friendly right of each member of the League to bring to the attention of the Assembly or of the Council any circumstance whatever affecting international relations which threatens to disturb international peace or the good understanding between nations upon which peace depends." These clauses have been used to justify intervention before an open rupture has happened and should be so used in this instance. Manchuria, although an integral part of China, is so obviously exposed to the risk of becoming an arena of bitter enmities that this outbreak calls attention to the need for precautionary measures. Worse may befall at any moment than has recently happened, and it has been bad enough.