THE TRAIN IN CHINA

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 155, 29 December 1938, Page 7

THE TRAIN IN CHINA

BOMBING OF GHENGTU

FIRST RAID OF CAMPAIGN

Punctuating Tokio warnings to neutrals that Chinese territory up to the very borders of Sinkiang and Tibet is now within range of Japanese aerial attacks, eighteen Japanese bombers' have dropped more than 100 bombs on the airfield of Chengtu in the first raid on the Szechwan capital since the outbreak of the Chino-Japanese war, radioed Tillman Durdin fi6m Shanghai to the "New York Times" on November 9. w Szechwan is only a few hundred miles from the Tibetan border. Official Chinese reports from Chungking say that Chinese planes shot down one Japanese bomber. It is believed the Japanese planes operated lrom Hankow. British Embassy officials here deny Japanese charges that Japanese troop* were fired on with rifles and machineguns from a British steamer on ths Yangtze River while the Japanese were operating against guerrillas about halfway between Shanghai and Nanking on October 24. A Japanese spokesman revealed that Japan filed a protest' with the British after an "exhaustive investigation." The British Embassy said the steamer allegedly involved was fifteen miles from the point mentioned by the Japanese at the.time the firing is said to have occurred. The British Embassy added that a reply would be sent to the Japanese denying the attack. ' Domei (Japanese news agency) reports said Japanese' troops had entered Hunan Province, the thirteenth province in China to be penetrated by Japanese forces. A unit driving on Yochow is said to have 'crossed from Hupeh into Hunan near Tuanwushan, west of the Canton-Hankow Railway. ■ Japanese warships were said to be ninety miles above Hankow on the Yangtze. ADVANCE CHECKED. Chungking reports said the Chines* had checked Japanese advancing along the Hankow-Ichang highway outside Liuho. Similarly, a sturdy defence southward of the Hsiu River was said to be barring the Japanese drive upon Nanchang. Chinese guerrillas were said to have, raided a Japanese airfield at Hofei and burned four planes and five trucks. Seven companies i already operating, involving iron mines, electric power production, telegraphs, inland navigation, real estate interests, and fishing, will come under the new 100,000,000 \ yen Central China Development Com- . pany, holding company organised in • Tokio, a Domei survey reveals. Domei says an annual production of 1,000,000 tons of iron in Anhwei and Kiangsu is planned and that two big shipments have already been made to Japan in the last, two weeks. Coinciding with the . conclusion of the session of the People's Political Council at Chungking, the Chinese capital, the Chinese Communist Party issued f a statement reaffirming its strongest support of continued Chinese resistance '" under the leadership, of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Shek, against the , Japanese, according to official Chinese news reports received here. The statement is contained in "Emancipation," the official Communist organ in Sian, the Shansi province headquarters of the Communists. It strikes at attempts by Japanese propagandists' to "separate, provincial groups from the Central Government and sow discord between the Kuomintang (Nationalist Party) and the Communists." It agrees with General Chiang in minimising the importance of the loss of Hankow, thus taking a"--view directly opposite to that which it took two months ago, when all Communist propaganda was directed .at emphasising the "vital importance" of j holdingjthe Wuhan cities, CONTINUED RESISTANCE. The- present statement says the .- Wuhan cities have lost strategic importance since the work of reconstruction in the north-west and south-west •■> has been completed. , ■ British reports from ..Chungking quote Wang Shih-chien, secretary-gen-eral of the People's Political Council, as emphasising that the resolution supporting c6ntinued armed resistance to the Japanese is the most important adopted. Mr. Wang is quoted as sayr ing:— "AH are fully aware of the consequences... We are of the opinion that ' there is no other alternative." . Mr. Wang refused to reveal the nature of five resolutions dealing with foreign affairs. It is presumed here thai Russian relations were the subject of one or several. Mr. Wang is said to have asserted that not a single member of the council proposed peace. Official Chinese dispatches say the Kuomintang Central Executive Standing Committee will meet at Chungking on December 15, presumably to map future Kuomintang policy. With Japanese bombing planes blast- , ing deeper into the unconquered m-_ terior of China, Premier H. H. Kung, . of China, told a mass meeting that his people "have unity but have not attained sufficient sacrifice," • said an Associated Press messagejrom Chungking on the previous day. The Premief addressed a meeting celebrating the twenty-first anniversary of the Soviet Russian revolution. Meanwhile, a message to the United States Embassy at this provisional Chinese capital said the Covenant Missionary Society building at Kmgmen, Hupeh Province, was botnbed by Japanese planes last Thursday. Neither of the only two Americans reported, at that station was injured. The Chinese Central News Agency reported that Japanese labourers iat the Taiyuan (Shansi Province) arsenal revolted last Saturday and blew up a munition dump valued at 1,000,000 dollars, killing 300 Japanese soldiers. The labourers were said to have revolted because of homesickness and failure of Japanese authorities to grant , them promised leave. Taiyuan is the : capital of Shansi, one of the North China provinces occupied by Japanese.