MANCHURIA

Evening Post, Volume CXIV, Issue 123, 21 November 1932, Page 11

MANCHURIA

THE LYTTON REPORT

PROPOSALS FOR A SETTLE-

MENT

WAR IN DISGUISE

(From "The Post's" Representative.) LONDON, 7th October.

The report, of the League of Nations Commission of Inquiry into the position in Manchuria, which has now been issued at Geneva, is a volume of 139 printed pages. Lord Lytton and his colleagues point out that the "issues represented in this conflict are not as simple as they are represented to be."

The first eight chapters are largely historical. The dispute has arisen (the report says) between two States, both members of the League, concerning-a territory the size of Prance and Germany combined, in which both, claim to have rights and interests, only some of /which are defined by international law; a territory which, although legally an integral part of China, had a sufficiently autonomous character to carry on • direct negotiations with. Japan on the matters which lay at the root of this conflict. i

Japan controls the railway and strip of territory running from the sea right up, into the heart of Manchuria, and she maintains for the protection of that property a force, of.- about 10,000 soldiers, which she claims the right by treaty to increase, if necessary, up to 15,000. She. also esercises the right of jurisdiction over all her subjects in Manchuria, and maintains consular police throughout' the country.

It is a fact that, without declaration of war, a largo area of what was indisputably Chinese territory has been forcibly seized and occupied by the armed forces of Japan, and lias, in consequence of this operation, ' been separated from and declared independent of the rest of China.

The main proposals for a settlement are as follows:—

China's sovereignty in. Manchuria to bo maintained, but the'provinces to have a special administration, with a large measure of autonomy. Japan, although denied political or economic control in Manchuria, to have in practice, through, advisers and the like, a big hand in the country's administration, and to enjoy far-reaqhing rights, including an extension of the whole area of the right for Japanese to settle and lease land.

TEOOPS TO. BE- WITHDRAWN. .Japanese and Chinese troops to be withdrawn as soon as an, effective gendarmerie, with, a foreigner at its head, has been organised. . -

A treaty -of non-aggression to be concluded by. the countries interested (including Bussia). '

China to reserve control of foreign relations, Customs, Post Office, and the salt taxes, and to appoint at least tho first, chief executive of the Manchurian Government^ ,

The railway question to be settled by a working agreement, or an amalgamation of the Chinese and Japanese railway interests. ,

[ ' It is proposed that, if tie two countries agree to a settlement on these. ; lines, the League should call a confer-' ence in which, thoy and the Chinese and ; Japanese* populations of Manchuria will be represented. If the countries agree, neutral observers would be present. ; It is suggested; that the two Powers should agree that Manchuria shoula.be- ■■ "corns' a demilitaiise'd''-'aroa;..H'""irh'o Soviet Government desires ■ to' participate in this understanding tho appropriate clauses dealing with non-aggies- ; -sion and mutual assistance would be embodied in a separate agreement. The commercial treaty should aim at encouraging the exchange of goods between China and Japan, "while'safeguarding tho existing treaty rights .of other countries. It should also contain an. undertaking by the Chinese Government to repress boycotts against Japanese trade. ■ ''■■'~. ■■■"■'. REVIEW OF THE POSITION. The report upon, which these ~ pro- ■ posals are based opens with an outline of recent developments in China. The 1 dominating factor in China to-day, it '' states, is tho modernisation of the ! nation itself. Tho Commission see in international co-operation the surest and most rapid progress toward, the attaining of the-national ideals. Chapter-ll'reviews the position of Manchuria from both the historical and economic standpoint. ■ Chapter 111, the longest chapter in the report, is devoted to Manchuriari issues between China and Japan. It traces the claim of Japanese public opinion that the resources, actual and potential, of Manchiira ar« essential to the economic life of Japan. . Events in Manchuria on and siuee 18th September,. 1931, are described in Chapter 4. It gives both Japanese and Chinese versions of 'tho lighting in Mukden and since, and'shows that, in the opinion of the Commission, the Japanese military operations = "cannot be regarded as measures of legitimate self-defence." The Commission.do not, ho-iyever, exclude the hypothesis that the officers on tho spot might have 1 thought they were acting in" selfdefence, i. ■' . -, "The fighting has been constant and widaly dispersed," the report says. "It : has been the practice of the Japanese to describe indiscriminately as bandits . all the forces now opposed to them. There are, in fact, two distinct categories of organised resistance to the Japanese troops or to those 'of 'Man- ; chukuo,' namely, the regular and the 1 irregular Chinese troops."1 NEW JAPANESE STATE. The fighting in Shanghai, in which 24,000 wore killed, missing, or wounded, is doscribed in Chapter 5, together with tho bombardment or Nanking on Ist February, 1932. This is said to have been due possibly to the ".firing of . crackers by the Chinese population. Chapter 6 deals with "Manchukuo" —the now Japanese State in Manchuria. It is significant that "Man- ■ chukuo" is always mentioned in the 1 report in quotation marks. ' The Commission hold, in the first j place, that the present regime cannot [ be considered to have been called into i existence by a genuine and spontaneous • independence movement. . They state that the programme of the "Government" contains a number of liberal reforms, but there is no indi- > caj,ion that tho Government will in , fact bo able to carry out many of these p reforms. Further, they say that there ■ is no general Chinese support for the ! "Manchukuo Government," which is regarded by local Chinese as an instrument of the Japanese. TERRITORY FORCIBLY SEIZED. I "It is as necessary for China to satisfy the economic interests of Japan in this territory," the Commission says, "as for Japan to recognise the unalterable Chinese character of tho popu- , latioiu It is a fact that without de- \ claration. of war, a large area of what . was indisputably Chinese- territory has , been forcibly seized and occupied by • the armed forces of Japan, and has, in i consequence of this operation, been I separated from and declared indepeu- } dent of the rest of China.

"The permanent separation of these provinces from the rest of China, either politically or actually," the Commission adds, "would be to creato for the' future a serious irredentist problem •which would injure peace by; keeping

alight the hostility of China, and rendering probable the., continued boycott of Japanese goods.''