PACIFIC RELATIONS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 21068, 30 December 1931, Page 12

PACIFIC RELATIONS.

Sir,—l read with interest your interview on Tuesday morning on the subject. of the Institute of Pacific Relations. I was in Shanghai before and during the sessions and followed their course. It had been proposed to meet in Hangchow, a provincial capital city some 200 miles from Shanghai. But. the people would not consent to it. for a. moment, and though the Central Government tried to overcome the opposition, it was powerless to do so. The inhabitants, filled with the usual Chinese anti-foreign spirit, would not on any consideration agree to a committee of foreigners meeting there. Consequently, perforce, the institute had to meet in the foreign concession at Shanghai, where it was under the protection of foreign (chiefly British) armed forcos. One wonders why the institute meets. It, is composed of well-meaning, honourable citizens of countries interested in the Pacific basin. It provides a pleasant but expensive picnic for the delegates. But it is absolutely without effect, good or bad, on the. political life and development of China. In Shanghai a few people knew of its meetings, but tho majority ot foreigners' and practically tho entire Chinese population took not tho slightest notice of its existence and were quite indifferent to its meetings. China was not affected any more than if a scone had been thrown into the Yangtsc River. It did not cause the slightest ripple in any department of Chinese life. For the effect it produced in Chinese circles it could have been held just as effectively here in Auckland. Shakghai-itk.