Too Hasty Judgments About Commercial Relations With China

Wanganui Chronicle, 20 July 1950, Page 5

Too Hasty Judgments About Commercial Relations With China

.HONGKONG, July 12.—Sir Robert Urquhart, retiring British ConsulGeneral at Shanghai, today warned against hasty judgments about future Western commercial relations with China. He said: “Don’t let us jump too far ahead. All sorts of modifications in the present policies may be possible,” He said he was sure the extreme views were being swept aside and the Peking administration was getting down to sound policies. “We have been hanging on in the hope that reason and commonsense will prevail and, with any luck, we should get that.” Russia must, however, be considered among the fac- ' tors influencing tht future. ' Sir Robert admitted, however, that ' the present outlook for the British business community was not. very hopeful and businessmen were in low spirits after a year of heavy expenditure and a small income. That, did not mean, however, those, and other Western interests, were proposing to pull out, nor did he think the Chinese authorities would have objections to Western interests remaining. Sir Robert said the Central People’s Government .meant what. it. said when it talked about, eventually achieving some sort, of Communist organisation. In that organisation, industrial and financial affairs would be arranged in a manner different from what Western capitalists had been used to. He said the Peking administration de(served praise for handling finance, although it had taken its policy of deflation and control almost to dangerous limits. He said he believed the country was on the way to balancing its budget, although that was dependtnt on reasonable harvests and other factors.--(Reuter).