The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED DAILY. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 1927. BRITAIN’S OFFER TO CHINA.

Gisborne Times, Volume LXV, Issue 10320, 1 February 1927, Page 4

The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED DAILY. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 1927. BRITAIN’S OFFER TO CHINA.

! Tli© sweeping character of the further offer made My. Britain to China " clearly indicates that a, drastic revisj ion of British policy is reckoned ab- • solutely necessary in the interests of peace, it most certainly affords proof that an entirely new era is being ushered in in the East: democracy but of a Red brand'is awakening. Whether Britain’s offer will he accepted, remains to be seen. It will be noted that, although the proposals have ; been forced by the Cantonese “Govi eminent.” the offer would appear to apply equally to the Northern Government at Pekin. Whilst not wishing to lose her long established commercial position in China, the 1 Motherland has intimated that she is prepared to accept, for the future, greatly reduced administrative and trading concessions. The demands I made upon Britain by the Chinese. Nationalists have, probably, not even yet been made known fully to the British peoples. It would scran, however, that they amount to a claim that China shall Its allowed to administer the whole of her own affairs; that foreigners, at any rate Britishers, shall he amenable to the Chinese laws and that they shall not- escape taxation. But that may not be all. From what can be gathered, it would appear that the Chinese Nationalists aim at securing for their people similar rights in British countries as British subjects are permitted in China. • i There is, therefore, perhaps a lot more in jthe Chinese Nationalist slogan than merely the cry of “China for the Chinese.” On this important matter, the peoples of the Oveiseas Dominions are bound to await, with not a little anxiety, further details of the new Chinese policy, Britain’s position, in such an event as may now possibly arise, will assuredly be a most awkward one. She may be excused for not desiring to sacrifice . her vast commercial interests in I China. But-, on the other hand, the Overseas Dominions will not willingly agree that the price that shall he > paid, on behalf of the Empire, for the privilege of trading in and with 1 China shall be the granting of the right to Chinese to settle in British 1 lands on terms similar to those on i which other aliens may enter them. 1 It is, of course , well-known that, ] over a lengthy pteriod, a. grudge has ] been held against the overseas Blit- c ish peoples in relation to what is re- 1 garded as their harsli treatment of t Asiatics. The Overseas Dominions, c however, require to be firm with the t Motherland on the important point c that they are opposed to unrestricted Asiatic immigration. Indisputable it is that, if Asiatics were to be allowed i to flood these Overseas Dominions, j ® the standard of morality and of living j

would speedily deteriorate within their borders. In the circumstances, it cannot be said that the Overseas Dominions are less vitally interested than the Motherland in til© negotiations for a settlement of Anglo-Chin-ese difficulties.