RUSSIANS LEAVE MUKDEN

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 90, Issue 57, 11 March 1946, Page 5

RUSSIANS LEAVE MUKDEN

COMPLETE WITHDRAWAL REPORTED

CITY MAY BE IN COMMUNIST HANDS

Recd. 9 p.m. Chungking, March 9. Russian troops have withdrawn completely from Mukden. The Chinese Central News Agency reported that 22 north-bound trains carrying Russian troops have left Mukden since Thursday. There is no sign of Soviet troop movements from Chanchun. The railway is busy with troops and transport from Mukden to Tiehling, about 40 miles to the north.

The news agency declared that fires of undetermined origin were raging in Mukden after the departure of the Russians, who turned the garrison duties over to the Chinese Central Government forces. It added that Chinese Communist forces are reported to be active in the suburbs and it was feared the Communists might attempt to seize control of the city. Trainloads of Russian troops have already arrived at Changchun. Others travelled to Port Arthur. The Soviet withdrawal from Mukden began on Thursday and was completed on Saturday, with the bulk of the troops moving northward. However, high Chinese quarters at Chungking said they did not regard the Mukden evacuation necessarily indicated a general Russian withdrawal from Manchuria. Chinese exnerts estimate that it will take from three to ten years to reconstruct the Japanese-built industrial empire in Manchuria, the time depending on the outcome of the present Chinese-So-viet negotiations and Chinas ability to obtain foreign machinery and technicians. A member of the Chinese Economic Mission said most of the factories had been removed by the Russians, who in the north even took oxen and horses.

Well-informed Moscow representatives. discussing Russian aims in Manchuria. said the Soviet hoped to implement the Chinese-Soviet pact with a trade agreement wherebv the two nations would contribute capital and technicians on a 50-50 basis in order to rehabilitate the area. Some Chinese officials in Changchun point out a possible relationship between the Soviet stripping the factories and the demand for an industrial partnership, explaining that some of the looted machinerv may be returned as nart of the Russians’ material contribution in such an arrangement.

I The Chinese Economic Mission Is mot yet able to unravel all the threads of Japan’s Manchuria enterprises, but a high official said they knew Japan was engaged in 72 types of heavy industry and had 150 subsidiary organisations, controlled by the Manchurian Industrial Development Corporation, whose former head, Tasunosuke Takasaki, is still in Changchun but is unable to be seen. A responsible source reported that the Russians on October 27, 1945, compelled Takasaka to sign a document formally turning the corporation over to them. Takasaki refused a request, to nost-date the document to September, 1945. The British Government is sending a Note to Russia associating itself with the Americans’ protest against Russian conduct in Manchuria, said the London Observer. The Note declares that Japanese machinery In Manchuria must be regarded as nart of Japanese reparations and distribution must be jointly decided by the Allies. The Food Minister, Hsu Kan, told the Kuomintang Central Committee that General Marshall is interceding for China when he goes to Washington in order to obtain increased U.N.R.R.A. food allotments. Hsu reported widespread starvation in many narts of the country. U.N.R.R.A. food shipments were insufficient and below the amount scheduled for the first half of 1946 Hsu attributed the shortages in manv bigger towns to Communist blockades and Government t r oons’ movements. China bad honed to fird a food surplus in Manchuria, but Manchuria needed fond imnorts. as did the newly-added province nf Taiwan. Chinn’s most needy districts are Hunan. Honan and Kwangn. Hsu urged sneedier reparation of Japanese prisoners who were now consuming China’s supplies. The Chinese Central News Agency said, the Russians were withdrawing from the coal-mining town of Fushun, 20 miles from Mukden. “Ho Pingpao,” the Chinese Army newspaper, said the Nationalist authorities had imposed martial law in Mukden as Communists “poised themselves to encircle the city.”