NEVER AGAIN, THE DESPISED CHINESE

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 5, Issue 5, 19 January 1942, Page 4

NEVER AGAIN, THE DESPISED CHINESE

■FOR centuries the nations of the world have been inclined to regard the Chinese as an inferior ra.ee, unable to fight, incapable of commercialising their own natural assets, bound hopelessly by an outdated civilisation, and lowered by a moral standard arising out of the complete subjugation of their women. Almost up till five years ago, when the China incident commenced, this was the common conception. Japan after repeated successes of her military forays on the mainland, treated the Chinese as a great helpless nation fit only to exploit and bully. Our own attitude toward?? the Chinese trade in the mid-eighteenth century will scarcely bear close scrutiny, for Great Britain, like all other leading nations demanded concessions, annexed Hongkong, and fought the notorious Opium Wa.r which all the subsequent development and capital she poured into the country, can scarce help to appease. That was China of the past. A vast, ill-governed, and divided country,, fit only to be expedited by more progressive powers. To-clay it is a different story. Unified China stands boldly under the first General to combine patriotism with military genius. For the first time in her history the 400,000,000 Chinese are combining their inexhaustable resources in an effort to throw out the hated invader. Trained and disciplined, they have proved, themselves first-class fighting men. With munitions, and modern fighting equipment supplied by the U.S.S.R., America and the United Kingdom,, the Chinese, on equal terms, can hold and actually defeat much-vaunted forces of Nippon. The world is regarding the strong.new China which is arising from the present .war, with a strange new respect. The story of Manchuria, Manchuquao, and the other military ventures by the Japanese, has not been repeated. The Chinese fight on. The spirit of China is hei manpower inexhaustable, and her resources unlimited. The worm lias not only turned, but it has grown into a dragon, defiant and terrible. The bandit general of ten years ago has been transformed into the patriot leader upon which the faith of all Chinese throughout the world is based. China has awakened at long last,, and in her new-found strength, has sufficient resources to spare the threatened British force in Burma five divisions of trained men and more if necessary. Whatever the. course of world history after the present war, we can be assured of this fact, that both China and Russia, hitheto unknown and, regarded as inferior nations, will rise to new and great heights, and will play an important part in the future of the world.