HOSTILITY TO JAPAN

Evening Star, Issue 19664, 17 September 1927, Page 10

HOSTILITY TO JAPAN

MOVEMENT. IN MANCHURIA ... ATTACKS BY CHINESE MOBS. ’ TOKIO, September G. Tho anti-Japanese movement in Manchuria is growing more tense. There have been attacks by largo mobs upon individual Japanese at several points, which culminated in a big demonstration at Mukden on Saturday, when more than 20,000 fanatical Chinese took part. Tho demonstration was prevented by Chinese police and troops and Japanese gendarmes from doing more than break the Windows of Japanese shops within the walled city, although tho intense anti-Japanese sentiments of the demonstrators were voiced on thousands of printed banners. Yesterday representatives of tho students met in the Mukden Chamber of Commerce and planned a movement that shall extend throughout the province, the first result of which is the closing by tho South Manchurian Railway of all tho high schools along the railway zone, which the Japanese maintain for Chinese students.. All Chinese pupils at boarding schools have been ordered home. The following is a statement made recently by tho spokesman of the Japanese Foreign Office iu Tokio; “ Rumors have been current lately that the Japanese Government is about to take ' strong steps in Manchuria and Mongolia, but all such are merely idle reports based on the conjectures of the various newspapers It is a matter oi deep regret to us if such reports have given rise to suspicion in either home or foreign circles. Manchuria and Mongolia aro purely Chinese territories, and we desire to make it clear that Japan is only striving, whenever any untoward event occurs, to protect and maintain her various rights and interests based upon treaties. “it is also a fundamental mistake to conjure up various imaginations regarding Manchuria and Mongolia as dependencies of Japan. It has been surmised that the South Manchuria Railway Company will lie given wider authority, but it should be remembered that this is not the age of the British East India. Company, and it is a perfectly anachronistic idea that a private company should bo invested with administrative powers. “Tho Japanese Government lias notthe slightest intention of giving to tiie South Manchuria Railway Company even police authority. The report is being spread, and exaggerated, that Japan intends to lay a network of railway linos in Manchuria and Mongolia. Although this thorny question has already been repeatedly brought up on various occasions there is no reason in tho argument that Japan has an unlimited right to construct railway lines freely on Chinese soil. “In short, the Japanese _ Government cherishes no other desire than the sincere wish to see tho re-establish-ment of stable conditions in Manchuria and Mongolia, and to contribute toward the promotion of both the Japanese and tho Chinese interests in these regions, regarding the economical development of the regions as the principal object in view, and acting in conformity with the principle of ‘ open door and equal opportunity.’ ”