The Timaru Herald MONDAY, JULY 11, 1938 AFTER THE FIRST YEAR OF WAR IN CHINA.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLV, Issue 21085, 11 July 1938, Page 6

The Timaru Herald MONDAY, JULY 11, 1938 AFTER THE FIRST YEAR OF WAR IN CHINA.

Marshal Chiang Kai-Shek’s challenging answer io tin Japanese call for national sacrifice, that the Chinese wil fight the war to a finish —to the last man and the lasi inch of territory—would seem to suggest that the mini versary celebrations relating to the close of the first yeai of the Sino-Chinese war, has been seized upon by tin Chinese leader as an excellent opportunity to rally tin Chinese nation in defence of its sacred soil. Appositely enough, the Chinese Marshal mentions the very issues upon which the Chinese nation has become united, namely the defence of China’s territorial rights and her sover

eignty as a nation. These rights, by the way, are safi guarded in the Nine Power Treaty which bears tli signature of representatives of Japan. The close of year’s hostilities finds Japan deeply involved inti conflic that has been costly in men and resources. Japan, on he part, anticipated that her military might once in actio would crush China's resistance in a few months. Bn to-day, after twelve months of undeclared warfare Japanese military and political leaders are calling on Hi nation for fresh sacrifices; indeed, the Japanese Ministe of War has committed himself to a prophecy that Jnpn must prepare for a ten years’ war. How then goes th struggle after a conflict of twelve months? According t the Japanese claims, the result of the first year of wa has been the occupation of 460,000 square miles of tei’itory iu which there are 130,000,000 inhabitants. Th

Chinese on their part say that the Japanese invasion ha drawn all the 'warring factions together, and althougl China was no match at. the outbreak of the war for th mechanised forces of the invaders:, to-day the Chinese an presenting a united front which is inspired by the delei mination of the nation to die upon the battlefields rathe than submit to the ruthless iuvader. It is, of course

somewhat absurd of the Japanese to claim that they are in occupation of wide expanses of Chinese territory. The fact is that the invaders’ hold is so precarious that the most extraordinary precautions have had to be taken even in Peiping lest China’s guerrilla bands should invest the city by night and destroy the Japanese garrisons. Moreover, Japan’s hold even in the occupied territory is confined to the main avenues of communication, while very powerful and persistent guerrilla bands operate in vast areas from which the Chinese soldiery 7 lias been withdrawn. The Chinese themselves have suffered enormous losses in manpower, while the suffering of Ihe civilian population has been immensely aggravated by the ruthless bombing of defenceless cities by the Japanese. The burden imposed on Japan by her aggressive policy can hardly be estimated. Some of the critics insist that the Japanese financial structure will crash under the weight of the war. Moreover, it is generally conceded that Japan's losses in the economic field have been sufficient to upset her economic balance; indeed, wellinformed observers insist that the shrinkage of China's trade has inflicted heavy losses on leading Western Powers while foreign investments in the Orient have been seriously undermined by Japan's expansionist policy. Losses have been suffered on all sides. The lessons to be learned from the conflict in the Orient are obvious. The end of the first year of the war —an undeclared war of aggression—finds the Orient in a. turmoil while the signatories to treaties guaranteeing the inlegritv of China’s territorial rights and acknowledging her sovereignty in the Far East, are content to look on. And one of the signatories of the IJriand-Kellogg Pact which outlaws war as an instrument of national policy is engaged in the most ruthless war against her neighbour, with other signatories displaying not even sufficient concern to prompt them to sever trading relations with the violators of sacred treaty obligations.