JAPAN PUZZLED.

Waikato Times, Volume 103, Issue 17408, 22 May 1928, Page 8

JAPAN PUZZLED.

WHICH WAY IN CHINA? ■■ ■■ ■■ & CHANG TSO-LIN’S RETREAT. S H* ALL CHINA AROUSED. (By Telfgraph.—Press Assn. —copy/lght.) (Australian Press Assn —United Service.) ■* (Received May 22, 1.5 p.m.) Z TOKIO, May -21. »£ To-day’s despatches indicate that Z General Chang Tso-lin is now negotiatJJ ing with Japan in an effort to arrange an orderly retreat into Manchuria without making a battle against the Nationt. alists as he previously announced he intended to do. To Japan the question threatens t"J assume the nature of a “showdown” with regard to her whole and oft reiterated declaration of “special interest in Manchuria and Mongolia," as it is believed that submission to General Chang Tso-lin’s desires could not but weaken the Japanese position and might be only temporising With what the whole Empire considers a question - vital to the national welfare. It is stated that Japan intends to abide by the spirit of the Washington declaration with regard to China, but that any action necessary to preserve Manchurian peace should not be interpreted as violating this spirit. The general tenseness of the situation is indicated by the fact that the wives of the Japanese Minister at Peking and Ihe Legation Counsellor left m Peking to-day for. Tokio, while the T total Japanese evacuation since the Tsinan incident has reached 500.