THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES TUESDAY, MAY 2, 1922. CIVIL WAR IN CHINA.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18543, 2 May 1922, Page 4

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES TUESDAY, MAY 2, 1922. CIVIL WAR IN CHINA.

Events in China, as the cablegrams of .the past few days testify, have leached a critical state. It would appear that the long-standing rivalry between Chang Tso-Hn and Wu Pei-fu has issued at last in a conflict between their respective forces. China is a land of factions in which two Governments and at least three military governors' and their armiris are contending for supremacy. So far the contention has chiefly consisted of tactical “sparring for time” of a class for which the Chinese character, subtle and ingenious, is peculiarly adapted. The ways of the Westerner and the Easterner are very wide apart, and in war as in all else the Chinese bides his time; —he is in no hurry. When we speak of civil war in China, it must be remembered that factions are struggling for power and supremacy, and each faction looks forward >to a united China, but each differs from the other in respect of means arid ideals. There is considerable feeling in various parts of China against the military oligarchy in Peking. In December las£ this Peking “Cabinet” was overthrown and its successor is - virtually dictated by Chang Tso-lin, described as “the super-Tuchuri of Manchuria,” arid is headed by Liang Bhi-yi. Chang, to- ( gether with Tsao-kun (Chihli) and Wu’ Pei-fu (Yangtze provinces) were the props of the old Government, but the cablegram announced yesterday , that Chang Tso-lin and Wu Pei-fu were engaged in combat. To understand the situation in China it is always necessary to bear in mind that the forces of m6st of the war lords are merely soldiers of fortune and' that unless they have money or an opportunity to replenish their supplies trouble is certain. The method of Chang was to requisition the Peking Government' for a few million yen for the ostensible purpose of suppressing bandits in Inner Mongolia or of rescuing Outer Mongolia from the Far Eastern Republic. The brindits were left undisturbed and the campaign against the Siberians was invariably postponed. When it is stated that a few years ago Chang was himself a 1 hunted bandit in Manchuria the situation becomes clearer. Tsao-kun is head of the Chihli Party and rival-in-chief cf Chang Tso-lin. His headquarters were some eighty miles south of Peking and though his fortunes were at a low ebb last year his star is now in the ascendant, mainly because of the rise of Wu Pei-fu, who was his' cljief lieutenant. When Tsao appointed General Wu juperTuchun in charge of the Yangtze region the latter showed his mettle. Upon the Szechuanese from the West invading his territory aqd threatening the river port of Ichang, he drove them out and annihilated their army. It was, says a commentator, “the first bit of real fighting China had seen'for some time.” Wu’s chief problem, however, is said to consist in the task of winning back the seceded provinces, and his prospects of success were supposed to be good. In an article in Current History on “The War Lords of China,” Mr Henry C. Fenn, an American resident of Peking, writes: “Last Fall it was said by many Wu, who ms then ingratiating himself with the people of Shantung province as their Governor, and the Christian General, Feng Yu-Lsiang, were the only two leaders whom China could trust. Chinese and foreigners,” ho continues, “alike voiced the hope that they would get together. To-day Feng is Tuchin of Shensi—under Wu.” A short time ago Wu held tho strongest position in the country, and it is unlikely that matters have since changed to his disadvantage. All this, of course, concerns the North and the Peking Government, but there remain the South and the Canton Government, headed by Dr Sun Yat-sen. There is division there also, and the independent provinces of Yunnan, Kweichou, and Szechuan were a short time ago wavering between Dr Sun and General Wu. Whether Dr Sun is a patriot, a sdlf-seeker, or a visionary is a disputatious question in China, but he has certainly given Canton an improved administration. In Kwangsi Province in the East Dr Sun’s able but indisciplined lieutenant, General Chen Chiung-ming, is in control, but apparently there was some uncertainty as to the propitious moment for an invasion of the North against the Peking Government. The problem is whether Chon will go over to Wu or whether Wu will go over to the South. It is a veritable Chinese puzzle. Some time ago it was prophesied that General Wu’s big and inevitable task was to defeat Chang Tso-lin, and to that stage the cablegrams have now brought us. If Wu and Dr Sim joined forces—and the significance of the surrender of the Peking Government’s navy must be considered in this relation—they would constitute an unchallengeable force iy Chinese affairs. In the meantime the situation remains unsettled and chaotic. A recent writer tersely summed up the position from inside China in these words:— Tho chief noed of a Government in China, is to govern tho Governors, for, after all, they are the trouble-makers. They have been and will bo. a constant danger to any central Government, not merely until tho power of raising troops is taken from them, but until the OHnese people as a whole change their ©rrire code of pergonal and political morality and practise the patriotism they aip now preaching everywhere,