CHINA'S FATE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22968, 21 February 1938, Page 11

CHINA'S FATE

INVADERS' CLAIM AREA OCCUPIED 314,000 SQUABE MILES DEFENDERS' INTENTION LAST STAND AT HANKOW By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright (Received February 20, 5.5 p.m.) LONDON, Feb. 19 Despatches from Tokio state that the Japanese now occupy 287,0(}0 square miles in North China, and 27,000 in Central China, or slightly less than the area of the Japanese Empire. It is estimated that the Chinese casualties on the PekingHankow and Shansi fronts last week totalled 30,000. It is reported that China plans to fight the last big battle at Hankow with 40 fresh and well-equipped divisions. If this does not prove to be Japan's Waterloo the Chinese will withdraw to the mountains and maintain guerilla warfare throughout the country. The Peking correspondent of the Times says the Japanese offensive in Shansi is well under way. The main body has reached Senchow and the left wing has passed Pingyao. The Chinese Embassy in London reports the defeat of the Japanese at Fenghiu, opposite Kaifeng. AERIAL WARFARE REVEKSE FOR JAPANESE FIVE RAIDERS SHOT DOWN CHINESE LOSE ONE MACHINE (Received February 20, 5.5 p.m.) HANKOW, Feb. 19 Two raiding Japanese bombers and three fighters were shot down near Hankow when 17 Chinese aeroplanes intercepted 15 Japanese machines. The Chinese lost one. Towns subjected to Japanese air raids to-day included Kwingyangpao, 15 miles from Chungking, the temporary seat of the Government. ANTI-COMMUNISTS DEMONSTRATION IN TOKIO PARTY MERGER WANTED TOKIO, Feb. 18 Three hundred members of the National Anti-Communist Federation in uniform arrived in motor-trucks at the headquarters of the Minseito and Seiyukai political parties and demanded interviews with the leaders in order to discuss a merger of all the parties to meet the national emergency. They met with refusals. Thereupon the anti-Communists unrolled bedding preparatory to besieging the headquarters until the parties changed their minds. However, they dispersed after a recommendation from the police to do so. Subsequently the police protectively arrested all the demonstrators. The Seiyukai Party expelled two members on iuspicion of complicity in the demonstration. NORTHERN CHINA JAPANESE CONTROL TRADE ADVANTAGES TOKIO, Feb. 18 The industrial newspaper the Daily News foreshadows the exclusion of nonJapanese goods from Chinese areas under Japanese occupation, the abolition of the Customs, the unification of the gold unit in North China's currency on a parity with the yen, and the enforcement of exchange control. This will probably coincide with the opening of the North China Reserve Bank on March 1. In the meanwhile the Peking Government will restrict the importation of foreign goods which can be supplied from Japan. JAPANESE DEAD ASHES SENT TO TOKIO .(Received February 20, 5.5 p.m.) SHANGHAI, Feb. 19 The steamer Mikasa left Shanghai for Tokio to-day with urns containing the ashes of 13,000 Japanese soldiers killed in action.