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The Dominion. THURSDAY, AUGUST 16, 1917. CHINA AND GERMANY

An eg a delay duo to her imperfect state of national organisation ana to internal dissensions which Were accentuated by an activc German propaganda, China has taken the decisive step of declaring war on Germany and Austria. Although she is Dot expected to play an important part in the ordinary way as a belligerent, her action tends a material degreo to weaken the Central Empires, and to strengthen and assist the Allies. \\ ar with China means the dcstrucr tion of important commercial interests which the Central Empires have, laboriously built up and developed during a long term of ycxirs. No doubt it means also that : tlio Republic will contribute in some degree to the successful prosocution of the war, by supplying labourers and materials and in.other ways. It is even more important that the action now taken by China emphasises the moral isolation of the Central Empires, and has its place in almost world-wide develop l mcnts_ which promise to maintain that isolation long after the war has come to an end. What is involved in China's ' declaration of war on the Central Empires will appear from a brief survey of the events leading up to this action and of the circumstances in which it has been taken. Early in February the United States Minister at Peking informed the Chinese Prime Minister of the attitude of his Gov- 1 ernment towards Germany, and invited China to take steps similar to those taken by the United States. The Chinese Government promised to consider the matter, aiid a few days later protested to Germany against the threat of unlimited submarine warfare. The protest rested in part upon a general objection to Germany's violation of international law, hut China had in addition a specific grievance in that Chinese citizens had lost their lives on the high seas owing to German action. The German reply was unsatisfactory, and in March China severed diplomatic relations. The internal troubles which delayed the further step of declaring war on both Germany and Austria affected the issues at stake between China and the Central Empires only to the extent that they were in part fomented by enemy agency. China has precisely the same cause of quarrel with the Central Empires as the United States. She has gone to war as aprotest against the criminal violation of international law and the murder of her citizens 011 the high seas.

In the aggregate Germany suffers a considerable penalty as a result of having driven China into the ranks of her enemies. She lost Fier territorial foothold in China as far back as November, 19M, when the leased territory of .Kiao-chau capitulated to the combined Anglo-Japanese forces, but extensive trading interests remained. The London Times stated recently that the total number of German subjects in China is over 3000, about half of whom reside at Shanghai and about -100 at Tientsin. The operations of tho 270 German firms that do business in China have been assiduously promoted since 1890 by the De'utschAsiatiehe Bank (with head ofliccs in Berlin and branches at Peking, Shanghai, Tientsin, Hankow, and elsewhere in China), and by the Deutsche Verciniyung, of Shanghai. German trade with China before the war amounted to nearly £7,000,000 a, year, about seven per cent, of China's total trade. China will presumably suspend tho payment of Germany's share in the Boxer indemnity and payments on the German share of the five AngloGerman railway and other loans granted to China during tlio last twenty years. Another item in the' account is that there are ten German steamers, aggregating 21,<100 lons gross, in Chinese ports, and Ihiv Aiivlrian lini'rs, which bring ■M, 111" I"'."' I 1 ::7.1MV1 I CI'!!;. Km- many years lli" German shipping services to China wcro supported bi heavy. subsidies., A btrik-

ing indication of the hold Germany had obtained on China is supplied in the fact that more than five hundred Germans were employed in oilicial capacities by the Chinese Government. >Slio is now in the position of having lo write off as a dead loss the extensive interests and concessions she has created and extorted in China during the last thirty years, and her commercial magnates will find this state of affairs the more disquieting since it is typical of the fate by which they are threatened over a great part of the world. There is little doubt that thu loss sustained in China will he permanent, or at all events that Germany will be terribly handicapped long after the war has come to an end in attempting to recover the ground she has lost. China's'natural policy will lie to consolidate and oxtend hoi- trading relations with the countries she has now joined in the war, and sho will presumably find ample support in a policy of excluding, or at the least heavily penalising, German trade. China's adhesion to tlio Entente is a material factor in developments which promise to reduce Germany after tho war to the condition of an outcast nation, not only in Asia and in Europe, but in North and South America, Africa, and the British territories of the South Pacific. That this prospect is visualised in Germany and with feelings of acute discomfort is indicated in the following observations by tho Berlin Lokal Anzciger-. The past few weeks do not put new lifo into our optimism. We havo had a rupture of relations with Guatemala, with Bolivia, with Hayti. Scarcely any attention is now paid to these things, although they mean tho destruction of u great amount of German property and tho waste of much German labour beyond tho seas. Let us hope that these tilings will not continue indefinitely at tho same rate, because otherwise, oven with a favourable peace, the rebuilding of Germany's world commerce would be a task almost impossible of accomplishment. Tlio passivo resistance which Germany's labour will moot with after tho conclusion oi peaco in oountries which aro now lined up against us alroady constitutes an obstacle to tho revival of tlio conditions that prevailed beforo the war. This obstacle must not bo underestimated.

Apart from its importance in other aspccts, the action of China, in joining the Enlenle involves material addition to tho obstaclo to which these gloomy observations refer.

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/DOM19170816.2.16

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3164, 16 August 1917, Page 4

Word count
Tapeke kupu
1,049

The Dominion. THURSDAY, AUGUST 16, 1917. CHINA AND GERMANY Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3164, 16 August 1917, Page 4

The Dominion. THURSDAY, AUGUST 16, 1917. CHINA AND GERMANY Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3164, 16 August 1917, Page 4

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