SPIRIT OF CHINA

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23517, 3 June 1938, Page 24

SPIRIT OF CHINA

-MADAME CHIANG’S LETTER The indomitable spirit with which Madame Chiang Kai-shek, wife of the Chinese Generalissimo, is helping to sustain the fortitude of her compatriots against Japanese aggression is evident in a letter which has been received from her by Mrs W. Harvey Auckland, convener of the New Zealand Women’s Crusade for World Peace, in reply to a recent message of sympathy. The lettei, dated from the headquarvcrs of the generalissimo at Wuchang at 'the end of April contains the following:— ‘*l am glad to be able to tel) you that, though we are suffering so much through the ‘ undeclared war' which Japan has forced upon us. we derive

much consolation and encouragement from the knowledge that there are great numbers of sympathisers with us who would, if they could, give us practical assistance to free our land *f the Japanese aggressors ■‘The menace of undeclared war is si great to all countries in the world that unless Japan is now defeated there will be no means of eradicating it Hitherto treaties and international law had governed nations Now, however, the most terrible ruthlessness can be visited upon innocent people without stirring anyone tc action. “Japan is uready counting tne chickens before- the eggs have ev3n arrived They are on paper creating all manner tn 'i-ganisations to develop the natural resources of our country to say nothing :>i the steps tl ey have a 1 cady takei to assume proprietorship of public utilities of all kinds in the -egions which they have occupied end which they believe they

and New Zealand products If there is a feeling in those countries that the contrary will be the case, a sad awakening is coming. “Japan, at the present moment, is concentrating all the force she can spare in an effort to overwhelm our forces in Shantung We refuse to be beaten. Even if the Japanese manage to blast their way through our lines we will continue fighting elsewhere. “The morale of the Chinese people is high, their spirit is undaunted and their will to victory is so great thai Japan will neve, be able to conquer this country. We are suffering as no peoples have ever before suffered. We hope that the sacrifices we are making will not be in vain so far as China is concerned, and will be of ultimate benefit to the world in inspiring a revival of that period when treaties and international law governed nations who were compelled by circumstances to submit their problems to the ‘stern arbitrament of arms.’ ”

will be able to hold. This national assumption of control over the property of non-combatants is one of the many amazing things that have developed as a result of this aggression. The very tact that plam such as these are openly being made by the Japanese should be sufficient to warn all people that Japan expects to be completely independent of everyone and every market if she is fortunate enough to be able to become a victor in China. If she can secure control of the industrious labour and the raw materials of China she will consolidate her empire upon the continent. She will extend ns time goes on. to the South Seas, and to anywhere else where she can build up power and secure what she needs In China and Mongolia she will grow all the wheat and all the wool and all her necessities which a temperate climate can produce. She will be independent of Australian