WHAT IS HAPPENING IN CHINA?

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXIII, 7 April 1927, Page 11

WHAT IS HAPPENING IN CHINA?

To the Editor of the “Timaru Herald.” Sir—Cliiua claims au antiquity if ; 100,000 years. While we were painted i savages, eating roots and sleeping in 1 hollow trees, she was a flourishing empire, leading the world in science, art, invention and philosophy, f rom time to tiline, the even flow of her industrious life was interrupted by invasions of less civilized peoples, who were more prone to plunder than to work, a human weakness which has been handed down to our own titne, and to aj large section of our own people. To protect herself against these inroads, , she securely walled in 4,000 of her cities, and later, constructed “The Great Wall of China," which is one of the wonders of the world. So long as she was content to act on the defensive,

she prospered, and lived to enjoy the so-called “Godlcn-Age.” But, as soon as she"ado_pfed_ militarism, .she lowered I herself to me level of tho rude barbarisms arohnd her; and like them, she began to seek gain and glory beyond, her borders,. which she might have seemed with greater certainty, and'with lhr less trouble in licr own country, by Assiduously pursuing her peaceful avocations sis' of old. Militarism pfoved her undoing, as it has proved the undoing of every great' empire that became enamoured of its deceptive glamour and hollow glory. Eatlen‘ from her greatness, she soon became a prey ,to- ambitious and imperialist powers, treading the eanio'road "to. ruin that she had mod. , : China’s- rebirth in modern times, is attributed to the new knowledge introduced from time to time by Her students returning from Western Universities, and to the example of Japan, which suddenly rose up from a state of semi-barbarism, to the position of an advanced and intellectual nation capable of looking after her own interests. Thus driven by .her students and drawn by Japan, the Chinese people made rapid progress in moulding themselves into a new nation imbued with modern ideas and high national ideals.' In 1911, those Meals earn© into violent; conflict with the established order of tilings, and a revolution resulted. The revolution ended m the overthrow of the Monarchy, and the founding of the. Chinese Empire, by Sun Yat-Son, who would have become its first president., but for the interference of foreign powers and their bankers, whose manoeuvring succeeded m conferring that honour on Yuan, the defeated .Conservative leader. '1 bus this frustration of the people’s intentions, created a disliko of all foreigners; and this dislike became acute and burning hatred, 1

when those foreigners: made two determined attempts to restore the Monarchy, against the known’wishes of the nation. As Britain was held .to be chiefly responsible for these treacherous acts against the Chinese people, crusade against every tin ug British was begun. Trade with Germany was encouraged. and British trade suffered severely in consequence. British business men now became, angry, and did many foolish tilings which so .exasperated the Chinese people that they decided to boycott British trade altogether: and they gave British residents in China intimation that their presence there was no longer desired. The British s< t.tlers laid their ease before their Government in England, wifji the result that . troops were shortly ' dispatched to China-. Russia having succeeded in ridding herself of all British nationals, now came to help China to get rid of hers. Very soon an understanding was reached between China, Russia, and Japan, which eventuated in the formation of an Eastern League. Thci maim purpose of this league is to .secure the. territorial and administrative integrity of China; in other words, to release China, as Russia liars been released, from the clutches of all foreign powers whoso sharp and tenacious claws have been- dug deep into her tissues. The knowledge of this League’s existenco has paralysed the a rim'd, forces of the foreign powers now in China; and they are unable to do luonv than mark time and safe-guard the lives and property of their respective nationals. Although the protection of foreign investments in China is an clement of considerable, importance in the present situation, the main factor is the entry upon the field of two powerful forces bent on destroying one another. Those forces are, the o’der imperialist diplomacy of the powers that fought the World War, and framed the Treaty of Versailles, and the new anti-imperial-ist, diplomacy of the Union if Soviet Socialist Republics. The contest bcfween these two combatants, tho Whites and the Reds, will be grim, fierce, deadly and devilish; but what the, outcome will he, no one can foretell. Well-informed men. - however, believe. that while it wiil be impossib’e for the Whites to hold their own, the Reds will fall short, of establishing Russian Bolshevism in China: in other words, that a, compromise of some sort will have to be arranged. This being the probable outcome, some of the world’s foremost thinkers contend that • the compromise:, should be effected be-, fore any formal declaration of war is ‘ made. But,: .unfortunately,' .it 'is usual in these cases to disregard thinkers and I to trust to schemers and fighters, who invariably make matters worse than they were. If tho present momentous situation is placed iu the hands of uninterested thinking men, all will be well; if j.t is left to the tender mercies of fighters controlled by interested men, a terrifying Eastern conflagration will be the result. —I am etc., OBSERVER,