UNREST IN CHINA

Otago Witness, Issue 3097, 23 July 1913, Page 26

UNREST IN CHINA

WAR AGAINST THE PRESIDENT, CRISIS DEVELOPING. CABINET RESIGNS. JAPANESE HELPING THE REBELS. PEKING, July 17. It is reported that the Kiang-si, Kiangsu, Kwang-si, Fu-kiang, Canton, Sichuan, Hu-nan, and Anhui provinces are preparing to declare their independence. Many northern troops have gone to Kiang-si, where indecisive fighting is proceeding. The attitude of the Japanese is bitterly commented on. The presence of Japanese officers beside the rebels supports the belief that they are stirring up strife. Moreover, Li Huan Hung has protested against the anchoring of Japanese gunboats within the fighting zone. Advices received through German channels state that the rebel leader is wearing the Japanese uniform, and ascended the river in a Japanese gunboat. The Japanese Legation denies that official assistance was given the rebels. ? The southern army dynamited the Pukow railway bridges 150 miles north of Yang-tsze, and tore up the rails, thus preventing the transport of the northern troops. The insurgents surrounded the German Consulate at Nanking on the ground that the Germans had extradited the revolutionaries from the German Hankow concession. Shanghai reports that the revolution is general along the lower Yang-tsze province, and that Kiang-su has joined the rebels. General Huan Chi Sing has declared war against the President, Yuan Shih Kai. Huan Shuing has been appointed. Commander-in-chief, with the ex-Viceroy as Generalissimo, of all troops. Nanking and Chin-kiang have joined the rebels. The commanders of some of the forts were shot for refusing to join. July 18. The Northerners are in possession of the Kin-kiang forte. The Southerners departed, fleeing up the hill to Ku-ling and surrendering their arms, July 19. The crisis is developing, and threatens to be one of first-class magnitude The Cabinet has resigned. The trouble springs from rivalry between the north and south and Yuan Shih-Kai’s efforts to override the provincial authorities. The southerners demand the President’s resignation. The immediate cause of the revolt is Yuan Shih-Kai’s dismissal of the Tutuh of Kiang-si. The young generals are flouting the President’s authority, and the necessity for keeping large forces in Mongolia, where the situation is serious, is increasing Yuan Sliih-Kai’s difficulties. Dr Sun Yat Sen is openly favouring the southerners. Nsenchanhsuan, who is a man of great force of character and of ruthless disposition, has been proclaimed as the revolutionary President. Hie troops have captured the British section of the Tientsin railway. The southerners killed upwards of 20 officers who were loyal to the Central Government. Yuan Shih-Kai has appointed General Fen-kuo-chang, who captured Hanyang during the revolution, to supreme command in Yang-tse. It is reported that upwards of 40 Japanese officers are assisting the rebels. The troops at the Woosung forts have joined the rebels. July 21. , General Chang-shun has been successful in his preliminary engagements against the Nanking rebels, and now bars the road of advance towards Peking. The Government troops have also been successful at Kiang-si. Six warships at Shanghai have declared for the Southerners. The principal military officers at Wuhu have been assassinated. This indicates that the province of Anhui is joining the rebels. The Kwangtung Assembly has declared against Yuan Shih-kai, and Shanghai, and Fukien have also gone over. Meanwhile the Southern politicians aro quittisg Peking, and it is likely that Parliament will be adjourned. An official at Kin King refused a British merchant permission to send goods to foreigners, stating that no facilities existed for the British. Subsequently the merchant obtained a pass on the American Consul’s influence. HONGKONG, July 19. Britain has sent a destroyer to Canton,