PROTEST BY CHINA

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXVI, Issue 7563, 6 May 1919, Page 7

PROTEST BY CHINA

PARIS, May 4. The Chinese delegation uas issued a statement declaring mat they view with astonishment the bhantuiig sectiement. liinnti can.c to tiie ■Oonrcrence imbued with a strong iaith m the Aihes' loity principits i\s a babis lor a just peace. Unmese people wil lbe disillusioned over the settlement. It there was reason to stanti linn over J'lume, there \s all the more reason to uphold 'China .s claim, involving Hie tuturo welfare of bti nauiou souls, and the highest interests of peace in the i< ar Last, liy transferring Germany's righto to Japan the Uoxileience la perpe*iaiing an act oi agtjressiuu which has wtea resented by the Chinese smco its perpecratioii. It is clear that the Council lias been bestowing on Japan the rights not of Germany, bat of China, and tiie more powerful ally has reaped the benetits a tithe expense of the weaker aily. The substitution becomes graver when ths position of Japan in huuth Manchuria and Eastern Mongolia is read in connection with it. fc*he is firmly entrenched on both sides of the Gult cf Pechili, the water outlet for Peking, with a hold on the three trunk lines issuing from Peking to the test of China, and the capital therefore becomes enslaved in the midst of Japanese influence. The Chinese understand that the Council's desire is prompted by the fact that Britain and Fiance undertook in February, or March of 1917, to support at the Peace Conference Japan's claims to the German rights at Shantung. The statement points out that China was no party to this secret pact, or aware of its contents when she- became a belligerent, also that Japan's claims appear mcom. patible with President Wilson's fourteen points.