The Dominion TUESDAY, MARCH 6, 1917. CHINA TAKES A HAND

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3020, 6 March 1917, Page 4

The Dominion TUESDAY, MARCH 6, 1917. CHINA TAKES A HAND

China, says tho Morninij Post, has decided to break with Germany ami subsequently declare war. At a, superficial glance the situation created by suck an event does not seem to weigh seriously in the odds of the war in Europe. But actually much good will bo done by even a formal •declaration of war. When the, Japanese took Tsingtau, which included the German leased territory of Kiau Chau, they did nob rid China of tho German incubus. As was pointed out at the time, the German 99 years' lease of Kiau Oha.u contained a clause stipulating that China must, on demand, provide Germany with another port and settlement which sho might at •any time deem preferable, and also that China was to indemnify Germany for all the sums, that sho might have expended on Kiau Chau. In other words, at any time after tho war she may, under tho contract of lease, seek to recoup herself for the loss of Tsingtau. If China declares war that contingency can be cancelled with a stroke of _ the pen. But there is another thing that demands attention in the interests of the Allies, and that is the romoval of Germany's unscrupulous competition in finance and commerce in the foreign concessions in' tho treaty ports. Germany's territorial concessions in the treaty ports of Shanghai and Tientsin, which are of no small extent, have been put to most improper use during the present war as bases for anti-Entente German 1 operations in China. One of their objects has been to besmirch British reputation and influence in the provinces traversed by the Anglo-Chinese lines of railway, as woll as to attack the reserved rights possessed by Britain in the Yangtse Valley. It is a peculiar aspect of tho war that five belligerent Powers at war with Germany are neighbours of their adversary in the foreign settlements in the treaty ports of China. These foreign settlements are separate areas of property belonging to each nation concerned, and independent of tho sovereignty of China. It might oven be possible for one to attack the other, but out of regard for Chinese susceptibilities, an understanding was assumed, not defined, that these settlements would be outside the sphero of the war. The Germans in their settlements arc said to have outraged every canon of honesty and fair play in their relations with their international neighbours, and to such a pass did the situation reach in 1915 that a. writer in the Fortnightly seriously discussed the prospect of forcibly ejecting them. How, he asked, is the expulsion of the Germans from tho settlement at Shanghai to be effected without invading Chinese territory and committing a breach of Chinese neutrality 1 Ho contended that it was quite feasible. But with China at war with Germany tho matter would bo sottled automatically. The same writer insists on tho cancellation of all German contracts in China and their transference to the Allies as a mcasiiro of the contribution to tho indemnity Germany will have to pay in the end. "For sixteen years," he says, "Germany has waged a ruthJess war against all other conn trie;:, and raoro than any other, against ourselves, in tho matter of railway concessions in China. Not content with her railway and mining concessions in Shantung, sho set herKelf tho task of diminishing the area reserved to Great Britain in tho Yangtse Valley. Their last coup was to obtain, in 1013, a third share in the Hiikuang line, a trunk railway of 1600 miles, where they had absolutely no rights -at ali. They secured tho subdivision of this lino into three parts, one of which they appropriated to themselves by tho lassitude and neglect of the British Government." And so on. When all things are considered., a declaration of war from China would bo gall and wormwood to Germany, but a most popular and profitable move to the Allies.