OUR FOES IN CHINA

Hokitika Guardian, 22 January 1927, Page 4

OUR FOES IN CHINA

SYSTEMATIC ATTACK ON BRITISH TRADE. By EDAA'ARD E. LONG, C.8.E., Formerly Director of Eastern Propaganda. I>o the people of this country realise sufficiently tho extent of the Bolshevik grip on tho East? I wonder. I returned recently from a journey through many countries of the East which have been looked upon as free, practically, from the Bolshevik taint—British Malaya, Siam, and, until quite lately, the Dutch East Indies—but everywhere I found the seeds of Bolshevism. The Cantonese Government, which now rules South China and threatens the North, has definitely allied itself with Bolshevism, instituted a boycott of British trade and inflicted upon it enormous losses; but the danger which threatens from the Bolshevik penetration of China does not end there. Through China, the Bolsheviks have reached the coast of the China Sea, which means the Pacific and the seas which wash the shores of ludo-China. Siam, British Malaya, and the Dutch East Indies—from Java and Sumatra to far-off New Guinea. Long before the first European navigators reached those waters they were known to the Chinese trader, tire inhabitants of their varied lands became intimately acquainted with him and learned to trust him. for, speaking generally, the word of a Chinese was his bond. And so the Chinese became a very valuable agent for the dissemination of propaganda among such peoples. HATRED OF THE FOREIGNERS Such propaganda, anti-foreign, had been carried on by the (hinese themselves. prior to tlie advent of Bolshc- • vism. through the National League of Chinn—the Kuo-m in-tang—a league founded by the late Sun Vat-sen for Hie establishment of a Chinese Republic. and diverted, later, to anti-foreign aims. The Bolsheviks have virtually acquired the control of this league and have secured thereby the most valuable organisation possible for the furtherance of their propaganda. Tho Kuo-min-tang dominates the situation in China; it has spread throughout the Chinese world, lor tho Chinese loves a secret society, and the Kuo-piiii-tang, with a secret guiding principle of its own—hatred ol foreigners—appealed to him strongly from the start. It counts its adherents today by tens of million, it has largely cfiptured Chinese labour, aifd it has placed this tremendous foreo at.the disposal of tho Bolsheviks. Almost everywhere throughout the East, these days, you will find Chinese labour, the Chinese trader, and often the Chinese capitalist. There are Chinese in many parts of India; Burma has a large number; they are prominent in Siam; British Malaya lias more Chinese than any other 'labour, her retail trade is in Chinese ha mis. _ and a. good share of the wholesale trade. Tho Kuo-min-tang is certainly known nmoirg the Chinese of British Malaya, immigrants from China and Stiaitshorn Chinese,, and of late there have been expressions of opinion among both classes of Chinese which indicate possible danger ahead. THE RED HAND IN JAA'A. In tho Dutch East Indies there is practically no Chinese labour, but there is a very strong trader and capitalist class, and probably the connection between the Kuo-min-tang and the recent Communistic outbreak in Java would not lm very hard to trace, although workers organisations of other nationalities, certain Javanese Nationalist societies,”find Arabs are involved. And Bolshevism is behind all, as the Moscow Pravada boasted before the event, and the Workers’ AYecklv lias since confirmed.

Bolshevik propaganda in the East is very thorough. 1 discovered, when; on a journey among what are termed the Outer Possessions ol the Dutch East Indies—such islfinds as Celebes. Anibo.vna. Saporoea, Cuivtm, Banda, and the Koi, Ani and Teiiimber groups that a regular Communisl ie. or in other words, Bolshevik organisation is maintained in such faraway, and to Europe almost unknown spots. It, is carried on largd’y from the island of Amboyna, the capital of the Moluccas, by means of a. revolutionary paper and other methods, and aimed at all European, interests.

The very steamer —Dutch—on which I travelled had copies of the paper on hoard, and when 1 questioned the captain about it he said it was almost impossible to prevent it from being carried, short of a thorough ami inquisitorial examination ol all passengers. What is Europe doing to tackle the Bolshevik menace, in the East ? So fains 1 coni’d gather, practically nothing. Under a treaty this country has hound itself not to engage in propaganda against Bolshevism, hut surely the fact that the Bolsheviks although hound by the same treaty not to engage in propaganda against the British Empire are availing themselves of i every opportunity of doing so should I release us from our undertaking. Or are we to go on trying indefinitely to hold our own in the East with tied hands?

This country had an excellent propaganda, organisation in the East, but it was scrapped some years since—for economy’s sake! Far more money could iuivo been saved by stopping some of the waste in Government departments, a good deal of which continues to-day. ' Tho loss to British trade and prestige in the East continues also, and surely if it pays the Bolsheviks to spend many millions a year in effecting this, it should pay us to spend something in sell-defence?