The Chinese Trouble.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 18893, 7 January 1927, Page 8

The Chinese Trouble.

The significance of the "'incident''' at Hankow seems to have been that it was witnessed by Sir Percival Phillips. From the Chinese viewpoint there has been an unprovoked slaughter of unarmed men by the armed forces of Imperialism. Bravely sentimental Englishmen, on the other hand, have been stirred by another of those dashing exploits which in tie drab conditions of modern warfare are becoming rather infrequent. But it i 3 the pen of Sir Percival Phillips that has made it all big news. " The bravery of British "sailors and marines/' he tells us, " during this afternoon's ordeal, which "called for supreme patience under " the severest provocation, is the finest " example of self-control I have seen." This is in the best manner of the correspondents of the Great War, and it is a little hard on Sir Percival that we do not respond to rhetoric in 1927 quite so promptly as we did twelve years ago. What actually happened is still a little obscure, but it seems to be fairly well established that there was no serious bloodshed, that the British residents have not been expelled from the Concession, and that the forces of the Canton Government are keeping order more or less effectively. The last fact is the important one, because it seems to be the first notable instance in which the British authorities have come to a -working agreement with the Cantonese. The recent British Memorandum, in a guarded manner, paved the way for such a step, and it may be assumed that the Foreign Office has come to the conclusion that the only way to get some measure of protection for British lives and property in Southern China is to work in with the only stable authority in that region. It may be an opportunist policy to have dealings with two Governments in the same country, but China at present is a racial unit rather than a national one, and opportunism is the only course. In any case, those who talk most passionately about recognising the " rising tide of Chinese nationalism," or most confidently about settling the whole matter by crushing the menace of Bolshevism, cannot give us the dimensions of their tide and menace. It would be much easier for everybody if the disturbers of the peace were all Nationalists or Bolsheviks, but what the foreign Powers have to cope with is largely non-political lawlessness. The last -time British naval forces were involved in fighting —in the affair at Wanlisien—the Chinese general who caused the trouble was a lieutenant of Wu Pei-f u and an anti-Bolshevik. Britain's policy in China may be difficult to understand, but the whole situation is difficult to understand, and if it were not could not continue.