MODERN PIRATES

Evening Star, Issue 22447, 18 September 1936, Page 10

MODERN PIRATES

ACTIVITIES IN CHINA EXPLOITATION OF ILLICIT TRADE The American conception of a smuggler, says the ‘ Voice of China,’ is that of a Paul Jones who risks his life and fortune to escape prohibitive taxes imposed by an exploiting nation, a man Jiving an adventurous outlaw life of danger and solitude. But there is nothing of this romantic aspect about the smuggling practised to-day in China. There smuggling is a business, a most flourishing encroachment conducted by the Japanese and Formoslans under the direction of Japan. A ship comes to a Chinese port with a cargo of petrol which never passes the Chinese Customs. There is nothing underhand' about this procedure. In broad daylight and flying the Japanese flag the boat enters the port of Quemoy. In the wake of the tanker moves a Japanese gunboat with loaded cannons. When the boat is stopped by Customs officials the guns fire a warning salvo, and the Customs men discreetly retire. The ship is then docked, and its cargo is freely unloaded, not by profiteering smugglers, but by Chinese coolies, who work all day for the price of a bowl of rice. Contraband goods, which at first consisted chiefly of opium, narcotics, and munitions, have gradually expanded to include all Chinese imports. At Fukien the principle traffic is in sugar. In the north it is artificial silk.

In North China these “imports” during the first three months of this year have been estimated at £20,000,000. Great organisations exist for the exploitation of this illicit trade in China. In South Fukien most of the Japanese smuggling is directed by a Chinese named Tseng, who has become a Japanese citizen. This company is capitalised at £600,000. Another company is being directed by three Formosians and operates at Amoy. The Chinese Press announced that Yin Yu-Keng, head of the so-called Government of East Hopei, in North China, has formed a company at Chinwnngtao, from bringing in Japanese goods. This company is reputed to accept orders and to guarantee the delivery of merchandise. All these organisations work openly; they build warehouses and private docks and own radio broadcasting stations, all ot which are guarded by armed men. Te Kn Chin Society thus disposes of firearms and equipment—revolvers, light machine guns, even tanks and armed boats. In North China the goods are sent under heavy guard via the Peiping-Liaoming Railway, and penetrate the whole of China along the Peking-Hankow and Tsinetsin-PuKow routes. The greater part of the income of the PeipingLiaoming Railway is derived from the carriage of contraband goods. Smugglers sometimse clash with Customs officials. In March a British Customs inspector was wounded at Chinwangtao. Six boats of contraband goods had been stopped, and on returning to port the Chinese and British Customs men were met by about 30 Japanese armed to the teeth. After a battle the smugglers unloaded their cargoes without further trouble. But (intervention to smuggling is the exception. For hancLin hand with armed intimidation goes the expenditure of large sums of money for the corruption of police. In Amoy, for example, the police receive 10s for every bag of sugar landed in port. There even existed a company of maritime police at Chincheng which levied an addition tax of ss. Refusing to meet this' exorbitant demand, the smugglers organised a revolt among the native boatmen and had the police disarmed. Contraband in North China has reached such a scale that the warehouses are stuffed and prices are failing. New markets are being sought. According to the Shanghai ‘ Evening Post and Mercury,’ the Japanese Con-sul-General has been receiving several requests each day from smugglers’ agents asking for permission to penetrate Northern Hopei and the provinces of Shantung, Anwhei, and Kiangsu. The Japanese use smugglers as political agents -as well as for reasons of trade. They are charged with special missions in South Fukien, where they are openly at the head of the autonomous movement. They have close liaison with spies and the police, and use their position to manage intrigues against the Government. Small wellorganised bands of spies are operating throughout the whole province of Kwang Tung, formulating strategic plans and gathering information on the provisioning, transport, population, and military camps along the river. The Chinese Government seems powerless against this organised contraband. Protests have been made to the Japanese Consul. But the Japanese military forces openly support the smuggling. The Chinese are forbidden by the Fang Ku armistice to send armed forces into the demilitarised zone or to organise police patrols within a distance of three miles from the coast. According _to the ‘ China Weekly Review,’ foreign loans to China are in grave danger, since they are guaranteed chiefly on the strength of China’s revenues from Customs duties, and adds: “ It is evident that the Japanese are alone responsible for this situation. In any other country such action would inevitably result in a declaration of war, for Japan’s purpose can lie none other than the destruction of Chinese sovereignty.”