The Press Monday, June 8, 1925. Chaos in China.

Press, Volume LXI, Issue 18402, 8 June 1925, Page 8

The Press Monday, June 8, 1925. Chaos in China.

' Quite apart from the sinister happciij ings at Shanghai and the routterings of storm over the Manchurian railway, the : state of affairs in China is so bad as to be a menace to the peace of the i world, and more particularly to tho Pacific. China as Empire was no I great success, but China as Republic has been a tragical farce, and however intellectual and highminded the Young China Party may be, it has hitherto wrought no deliverance. Thci condition of things to-day is vividly described by the Peking correspondent of "The Times" Weekly in the issue for April 23rd last: "China is "ontircly in the hands of the roilitar"ists. The Central Government is "dependent on tho support of military "commanders, who freely' ignore its "orders when it suits them. Civil "administration is completely dominated by the military, who disregard '' law and uso all, revenue for tho furtherance of their private political "aims.- None of tho commanders has "any real understanding of China's '' obligations to .foreign countries, either "by treaty or in financial transactions. "Consequently, treaties are continually "violated, and lailway revenue-, part, of "which ought to be devdted to pay"ment of interest on and amortisation "of foreign loans, is commandeered.... "Brigands control large areas, and "locai commanders are so busy with "politics that they do not attempt to "use their largo forces to deal with "this evil, which is causing widespread "ruin in agricultural districts. Opium, "of which the growth, transport, and "use are forbidden by law, has become "a huge military monopoly, the revenue "from which is used to maintain many "of tho armies." Prom whatever point of view we regard this it is a pitiable state of affairs, and it has become chronic, The integrity of China was guaranteed by the 1921 Washington Conference, but it looks as if there is no Chinese integrity to guarantepy and the country seems on the verge of breaking up into a number of independent principalities, each carrying in itself the germs of further division, and none realising the j claims of tho outside world upon the country as a whole. It is a particularly i exasperating foature of tho prevailing anarchy that tho railways which once paid hand-, somely are, with tho exception :of the Manchuria line, practically bankrupt, being chiefly employed for rushi ing .about mischievous troops. "China "for tho Chinese" is a popular cry, but what if the Chinese in their present state of evolution ate incapable of administering China? There is no indication that they possess tho constructive power and austere selflessness essontial to nation building. . And this no doubt is why "The "Times," in a leader quoted in a very recent cable, is once more urging intervention. China, it asserts, is unable to eliminate the habit of civil war, which is ruining the country. It is not so very long ago since all the world was taiking of the partition of China, and no doubt that, cry will be ironically revived by tho well-meaning persons who dread action, aaoS prefer a fatal policy of drift. But much water has run under the bridge since the days of the mailed fist, and intervention, if it takes place,, will take place in the open, and with the definite aim not of breaking up China, but of imposing on her a period of modified tutolage whicii should' aid her people in learning how to. administer their own disordered affairs, and, if that should be their destiny, take their place in'the comity of nations as a civilised and honourable Power.