CHINA'S PART.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 12568, 4 March 1919, Page 7

CHINA'S PART.

WHAT SHE DID IN THE WAR FULFILLED HER OBLIGATIONS TO THE UTTERMOST (“Christian Science Monitor.”) i Tho question, AVl,at, did China, do in I lw Wa ni • w * uc^,. w as discussed recently J-.d 1 ' J * ujlcse diplomatist in London, i a representative of this paper, is ono calling in a peculiar degree for an accurate answer. A deliberate iSi pi ™ ado ’, quite kiel Y, mt onl .V to be ttio China a effort, but to throw +u \ S tr )n ,er Klncp -rit.v and loyalty to tno Allies, was exposed in this paper some weeks ago. There is no need to labour the-point. Tho effort was inevitably traceable to Tokio. It was shown at the time that the charges I against China were entirely baseless, ed their purpose so transparent as Anally- to discredit them. Something more, however, than a negative answer to this question is needed. It needs to he shown and apprmated what China, in spite of her difficulties, has done; nob only what she has actually accomplished, blit what she has desired to dp, and has stood ready, to do, if circumstances had not militated against her. Above all, her attitude toward the Allied cause, an attitude which she maintained from the moment she entered the war in the August of 1917, needs to bo appraised at its full value. Those who have followed the story of Chinn, during the last nftoen months cannot fail to have' been struck by one thing, namely, her honesty and frank DETERMINATION' TO DO THE BEST SHE COULD. She lias said but little. There has been, where China has been concerned, a strange absence of all advertisement, She has not figured prominently as “one of the Allies.” Indeed, it is to be suspected that many people, if they had been asked ; would have expressed themselves m doubt as to whether China- was really in the war, or whether she had only gone to the length of breaking off diplomatic relations. Yet, all this time, necessarily without any advertisement, in view of the submarine menace, thousands! of Chinese were leaving their homes in theFar East, and being conveyed half round the .world to work, behind the ■ lines for the Allies in France. Haring the last fifteen months thousands of Chinese dock labourers have handled tho immense stores at French ports, in a way which only Chinese dock labourers could. Thousands of mechanics have been on repair work behind the lines, subject to attacks from the airy and 'frequently under shell fire; whilst, in the great retirement of the Allied forces before the German onrush last March, the work of the Chinese v mechanic and engineer has been greatly acknowledged by those best able to judge of it-s' effectiveness. Then, again, _ Chinese sailors sailedthe seven seas in British ships, running the same risks as British seamen, and contributing to the great work of maintaining the" lines ( on the sea for the supply of the Allied forces. Prominent Chinese business.men went to France in order to- undertake the work of op trolling tho Chinese camps, and in many, other ways assistance was gladly offered and gladly welcomed. It- is indeed very imperfectly realised to what extent the help of the Chinese RELIEVED THE PRESSURE ON THE MAN-POAVER. of the Allies; whilst the degree in which this help, was given was limited only by the amount of the shipping for transport which the Allies could place at China’s disposal. , Then, if the question of supplies is to be considered, it must be mentioned how. great a, work China has done in the matter of supplying the Allies with silk, which is essential in aviation work. She has also exported all obtainable metals such as antimony, of which there is a need. And if it snail he insisted, that all BucliX exportations were to China’s _ advantage, and involved no self-denial, it needs to be pointed out that, at a time when China herself was short ,of food supplies she still further reduced her own provision in order that she might export all she could, in the way of foodstuffs, to Europe. All this time, moreover, China was doing her utmost to set her own house in order. In this' work she not only had to contend with the machinations of Japan, more than once amounting to openly organised revolt, as in the attempts to restore the monarchy; and with the constant friction between the North and the South; but she had to uncover and exterminate the German organisation in the country. The extent and completeness of this organisation is only just coming to be realised, and tlie successful way in which China dealt with it is, perhaps, HER' GREATEST ACHIEVEMENTAATiatever the ultimate of Germany’s plans in China may have been, the Chinese field was undoubtedly one of those held most dear by the German world politician. GERMANY’S HOLD ON CHINA. It wax not to a. field of small importance that Germany sent Admiral von Hintzc in the autumn of 1914, and it was not for nothing that Germany made every effort, even to the length of refusing to ratify a treaty for the exchange of prisoners, to prevent Germans in China being interned or deported. Germany had- secured control of China’s trade in.so many directions, she sought desperately to the last to keep open the door into China, those who appreciate the unscrupulousuess and insidiousness of the German method will," therefore, Appreciate the task which China had before her, and will appreciate also the thoroughness with which she carried it to a sue- , CGSsful completion. Not only are therej to-day, no German concessions left in China, but all Gormans in China have been deported or interned and kept uder constant surveillance. FULFILLED HER OBLIGATIONS. In a word, China has kept her word. i °, n , e ller dut Y by the Allies, and fulfilled her obligations to the uttermost, and it is safe to say that, in spite ot all the efforts which have been made to discredit her, there has, indeed, as the Chinese diplomatist already referred to claimed, been “ no weakenin the public confidence in the probity, honesty,, and rectitude of China. The Chinese representative is coniine; to the Peace Conference with the good will and appreciation of all the western Allies. China has many ,;ust grievances to lay before the delegates at the peace table. She has endured mapy unjust, limitations and been the subject of many unjust treaties; her territory has been forcibly annexed, forcibly leased, or “peacefully penetrated,” and it can occasion no surprise if China asks the Allies to aid- up to the ideals for which they have all been' fighting, and to insist on the return to her of all those rights 1 and territories which, under one guise or another, have been filched from her during the last half century.