CHINESE RAILWAY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21481, 3 May 1933, Page 9

CHINESE RAILWAY

SEIZED ROLLING STOCK ACTION BY MANCHUKUO DEMAND FOR RETURN SOVIET GIVEN 10 DAYS By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright (.Received May 2, C.5 p.m.) SHANGHAI. May 2 Manchukuo has given tho Soviet until May 10 to return the locomotives and rolling stock seized. The Soviet has announced its determination not to accede to the request and consequently is withdrawing the Soviet Customs branches from Manchuli to Pogranichinava. ft Russian troops are showing some activity beyond Manchuli and aeroplanes are flying over Manchukuo territory. A message from Tokio says Japanese officials belittle alarmist reports from Harbin in regard to the quarrel between Manchukuo and the Soviet threatening to develop into a situation which would endanger peace. A spokesman informed journalists that serious trouble was not likely. Manchukuo was asking for amendments to the Chinese eastern railway agreement because the Soviet had prevented Manchukuo officials from taking an equitable part in the management. CASE FOR RUSSIA - OWNERSHIP IN DISPUTE THREAT" TO WORLD PEACE LONDON, May 1 Ihe Moscow correspondent of the Manchester Guardian states that Soviet aeroplanes to-day were flown near the Manchukuo boundary for the first time since the Sino-Russian conflict in 1929. Manchukuo officials have openly challenged the Soviet's sole ownership of the Chinese Eastern Railway, and the Soviet has retorted in an impassioned statement, defending its ownership. It charges Manchukuo with deliberately trying to undermine the entire structure of the treaties on which the joint administration of the railway rests. The Soviet has instanced the seizure of Russian rolling stock and violence against Russian employees. The Soviet considers the situation the most dangerous threat to world peace since the invasion of Manchuria.

NORTH CHINA CHANGES PENDING TALK OF NEW STATE PEKING, April 24 A movement to establish in North China a pseudo-independent State called Huapeikuo is widely reported in the Chinese press. It is predicted that renegade Chinese forces will occupy the Peking-Tient-sin area with Japanese assistance, and establish a puppet regime under the control of a Japanese garrison at Tientsin. The papers warn the Nanking Government to rush reinforcements northward if it wishes to keep the' PekingTientsin area as part of China. Commenting on these reports, foreign observers agree that marked political changes are pending in North China. Some observers are of the opinion that the Japanese will transfer Henry Pu-Yi from the present Manchukuo capital, Changchun, to Peking. He is the heir to the former Empire of China, being a descendant of the Manchus, and the present Chief Executive of the State of Manchukuo. Martial law has been declared in Peking and Tientsin. The populace is in a panic. Anti-aircraft guns are being mounted on the pipings of old ramparts, and preparations are being made to move the remaining art treasures to places of safety. Discussing the possibility of a political coup d'etat in the Peking-Tientsin region, a spokesman for the Japanese Legation said no such movement would receive Japanese support. A widely-circulated rumour that the British Ambassador to China, Sir Miles Lampson, is negotiating for a SinoJapanese armistice, is emphatically denied by British Legation officials. " No such negotiations are in progress, and no proposals have actually been received by Sir Miles from either side, though the Ambassador is naturally keeping in close touch with the situation and carefully watching developments," the officials said. CHINESE MARSHAL * ' JOURNEY JO ITALY OPPOSED TO CIVIL WAR COLOMBO, April 24 - Marshal Chang Hsueh-liang, the former commander of the Chinese forces in J'chol and Northern China, expressed a desire to see Gandhi when ho arrived at Colombo to-day, on his way to Italy. " I am a pacifist in the sense that .1 never encouraged civil war in China," said Chang. " I resigned my command because there was no financial support." Ho said his future movements depended on events in China. Ho hoped to see Signer Mussolini in Italy. JAPANESE APPEAL "ASIA FOR ASIATICS" PEKING. April 21 According to an official communique, Japanese aeroplanes operating south of tlio Great Wall are dropping leaflets extolling the virtues of Japan and Mancluikuo. The leaflets says:—"Asia for the Asiatics. Yellow races, wake up. Manchukuo is Paradise. Jcliol is like a bud before coining into blossom. The Imperial Japaueso Army comes from Heaven, loving peace, maintaining justice, and suppressing bandits in cooperation with Manchukuo. The Japanese Army is tlio strongest in tho world."