RUMOURS DENIED

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22822, 1 September 1937, Page 13

RUMOURS DENIED

INTERNATIONAL SETTLEMENT [by TELEGRAPH PRESS ASSOCIATION" j WELLINGTON, Tuesday The following telegram has been received by the Chinese Consul from Nanking: "The spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs emphatically denied rumours recently circulated at Shanghai to the efleet that Chinese try ops would make use of the opportunity of resisting the attack of the Japanese forces in the Shanghai area by forcibly taking back the International Settlement. "The spokesman remarked that such rumours apparently had been created by Japanese sources with the object of arousing the suspicions and fears of foreigners. The Chinese military operations at Shanghai have no other object than self-defence against the Japanese attack and it is equally the wish of the Chinese Government, as it is the desire of all the interested Powers, that normal conditions in the International Settlement and the French Concession id Shanghai should be as little disturbed and as speedily as possible restored." CARE FOR SETTLEMENT OPERATIONS OF CHINESE SHANGHAI. August 20 The commander of the Chinese 88th Division at Shanghai, in an interview behind the lines, said that only the responsibility of protecting lives and property in the International Settlement had prevented him Irom wiping out the Japanese long ago. He said: "We are closely observing •the Government's wish to avoid damaging foreign property at Hongkew as much as possible.