CHIANG KAI-SHEK

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22615, 31 December 1936, Page 8

CHIANG KAI-SHEK

Once more Marshal Chiang Kaishek has proved to be a man to whom China looks confidently for leadership. A few days ago, after an endeavour to quell a revolt in the province of Shensi, he was captured by the rebel commander, Marshal Chang Hsueh-liang, and in peril of death—a remarkable plight for the head of the republic. But his release, achieved by means in which the courage and tact of his wife are said by him to have played an influential part, was more remarkable than his capture, for he returned to Nanking without having yielded to any of the demands of the insurgents. More remarkable still, he was followed to Nanking by their leader, whose purpose in taking the journey was to submit voluntarily to punishment for the revolt. Now, after refusing to turn his triumph to advantage—offering instead to resign and asking that Chang Hsueh-liang be pardoned— Chiang Kai-shek has been given a vote of confidence by the Central Political Council: it has declined to accept his resignation, and he continues as political head and com-mander-in-chief of the nation. To those unacquainted with his personality and career, all this may seem too much like comic opera to be taken seriously. As a matter of fact, nothing in it—if his capture bo excepted—is at all surprising. He is"an unusually capable man. A product of the radical south of China and at first of lawless bent and uneducated, ho came under the spell of Dr. Sun Yat-sen and step by step rose to prominent national service. Both the classroom and the battlefield have contributed to his training. In the chaotic period when many rival warlords did only what was right in their own eyes Chiang fought with a view to national cohesion and betterment; by sheer ability and strength of purpose he succeeded. The unification of China became more than a dream; North and South were equally constrained to accept his choice of Nanking as a new capital serving both; Communism, no strange cult to him, was subdued and the Soviet envoy (Borodin) was expelled; on all hands, in spite of opposition, his enlightened and steadfast policy won support. An adherent of the Christian faith, ho has promoted justice and order. His retention of control augurs well for China and its attitude to other countries.