TENSION RELAXED

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19377, 15 July 1937, Page 6

TENSION RELAXED

RELIEF IN PEKIN AREA JAPANESE WITHDRAWING INSISTENCE ON TERMS PUNISHMENT OF CULPRITS (Klee. Tel. Copyright—United Press Assn.) (Reed. July 15, 1.30 p.m.) LONDON. July 14. Reports from Pekin state that the tension which followed the conflict between Chinese and Japanese lias been temporarily relaxed witli the withdrawal of the majority of the Japanese troops from Wangping to Fengtai, thus reducing the risk of further clashes.

Thu train service (o Tientsin lias been partly restored.

Mr. Denzi-Rokato, the secretary to Fne Japanese Embassy, said: “It is possible to settle the incident locally if Nanking does not intervene. Japan does not want more than a fulfilment of the first agreement providing for the punishment of the culprits, an apology, the suppression of the antiJapanese agitation and co-operation witli the Japanese against communism.”

Meanwhile Hopei and Chahar officials insist that this “humiliating” agreement was never signed, at least not by responsible persons. They contend that there have been only verbal truces providing for the mutual withdrawal of troops from specified points in the Wangping area.

A message from Tientsin reports that the Chinese population was thrown into panic this evening when 600 Japanese troops, witli cavalry and a motor-cycle section, marched through the main street of the Chinese area to Fengtai. Believing that the Japanese were occupying the city the crowds fled. Shops were shuttered and trams were brought to a standstill.

An incident was averted when Chinese militiamen, who had held up the Japanese, were instructed to permit them to proceed.

DUE CAUTION URGED LONDON DISCUSSIONS •COMBATANTS CONSULTED (British Official Wireless.) Reed. 1.40 p.m. RUGBY, July 14. “The Government will lose no opportunity of making a contribution towards a peaceful solution of the difficulties in China,” said the Foreign Secretary, Mr. Anthony Eden, in the House of Commons.

He said that he had been in touch with the Japanese and Chinese Governments and had made it clear that the British Government was conscious of the anxieties of the situation, which it was watching closely, and had ex-, pressed England’s concern lest hasty action by cither side should lead to a clash which should be avoided if the situation were handled with due caution. Mr. Eden said that the latest information indicated that the situation in Pekin appeared to have quietened, although naturally there was an undercurrent of nervous apprehension. He also had consulted the Governments of the United States and France and these consultations would be continued.