Wairarapa Daily Times (Established Over 60 Years.) FRIDAY, 10th DECEMBER, 1937. THE SINO-JAPANESE WAR.

Wairarapa Daily Times, 10 December 1937, Page 4

Wairarapa Daily Times (Established Over 60 Years.) FRIDAY, 10th DECEMBER, 1937. THE SINO-JAPANESE WAR.

How much, longer are Sino-Japan-ese hostilities to continue, and what will be their outcome ? Notwithstanding the ruthlessness of the conflict, it is popular in both countries, in the sense that both peoples have rallied behind their Governments in prosecuting it. Japanese statesmen may talk about beating China to her knees, and Chinese leaders may retaliate with boasts that they will resist to the last man. No neutral observer expects either statement to be fulfilled. In the heat of the moment responsible politicians in any country may give utterance to such views. Long before either boast could be fulfilled some less drastic method of ending hostilities will certainly have been found, Avith or without foreign mediation or intervention. The avowed aim of the Japanese Government is to bring about Sino-Japanese cooperation; the avowed object of the Chinese Government is to resist Japanese domination. Between thees two aims there is at the moment what appears to be an unsurpassable gulf. But it is not clear how its bridging will be facilitated by protracted warfare. Warfare under modern conditions has the immediate effect of intensifying international animosities. Each combatant invariably seeks to convict the other of atrocities. Even when an aerodrome or a troop train is destroyed by airbombing, mention will be made only of non-combatant casualties. Charges and counteri-charges. ofusing dum-dum bullets, poison gas, or of poisoning or infecting water supplies invariably fly backwards and forwards, and whether well or ill-founded prove only too often a prelude to the adoption of more ruthless methods in alleged retaliation. These are phenomena to which we became accustomed during the Great War and later conflicts. While feeling is so inflamed in both countries, to talk or write of peace seems singularly futile.