CHINA'S PERIL

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 123, 27 May 1942, Page 7

CHINA'S PERIL

ALL-OUT JAP. ATTACK

Aircraft Urgently Needed To Hold Back Enemy

Special Correspondent. United Press Association.—Copyright. Rec. 1 p.m. LONDON, May 26. The position for the Chinese is regarded as desperately serious, for the whole future strategy in the Far Eastern war depends on the maintenance of contact between the Allied Nations and China, a fact which the Japanese undoubtedly appreciate. China may play the same role on Allied strategy in the Far East as Russia is playing in the west. Japs'' Encircling Moves Lieutenant-General Sir Douglas Brownrigg, commenting in the Evening News, says: "An all-out attack against China would be a verv difficult operation for the United Nations to counter." General Brownrigg believes that China will resist to the end, and he also thinks Japan will now go all out against her from the west to Chungking and from the east by westerly advances from forward positions and from ports in Japanese hands, to which the recent landing at Foochow is a feeler. The opinion is held in London that the Japanese may launch a full-scale offensive against China, which at present is being attacked from Chekiang, and also on the Yunnan-front via the Burma Road. If the Japanese concentrate against the Chinese in the coming weeks the supply position will assume first-class importance. for the Chinese will need first-line fighters and bombers. It is felt that the only completely satisfactory solution lies in the recapture of Lashio and Mandalay, key points in Burma. Signs of Pending Big Invasion Although the Japanese storming Kinhwa have been forced to retreat with heavy losses, the Chinese military position is still very grave because of new threats developing in other areas, says the military spokesman. The enemy is concentrating a large number of troop transports, warships and aircraft carriers in Formosa Island across the Taiwan Strait from Foochow. The Japanese are probably preparing for a large-scale invasion of Fukien province in the near future.

The Japanese also landed additional mechanised units in Indo-China, but there are no indications whether an invasion of Yunnan province from the south is intended. The Chinese spokesman emphasised the need for planes from the Allies in view of the expected fierce battles in Chekiang and Fukien provinces. Chinese troops operating west of the Sal ween River, in Burma, are now only two miles from Tengyueh. Guerilla forces severed Japanese communications between Tengyueh and Lingling. The military correspondent of the New York Post, commenting on the Japanese offensive, says the enemy, with his armies of the Indies, is free to take the offensive wherever he chooses. He has elected to throw the major portion of his flank upon China rather than to attempt the conquest of either India or Australia There can be little doubt, he adds, that the Japanese are planning to substitute for their sea communications a new set of land communications running down across China from the Sea of Japan to the occupied territories of Burma, IndoChina and Malaya—the districts from which they hope to draw so many war materials.