The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. SATURDAY, APRIL 9, 1927. CHINESE SITUATION.

Hokitika Guardian, 9 April 1927, Page 2

The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. SATURDAY, APRIL 9, 1927. CHINESE SITUATION.

The Chinese situation is still in the melting pot, without immediate prospect of a satisfactory moulding. At one stage it appeared likely events would settle down to a peaceful process of sane negotiation. The settlement at Hankow gave that impression. But the Cantonese successful advance oil Shanghai seems to have altered the general aspect very materially. The two main rival Chinese factions are still at war, and until this conflict is settled definitely there does not appear much prospect of gaining finality. In this connection, as an exchange remarks the latest developments in China may serve to remind us that, in the eyes of the Chinese people the really important feature of the present situation is not the fate of a handful of ‘'foreign devils,” hut the outcome ot a great civil war. The commander of the Northern armies, Chaim- Tsolin, has moved some distance southward beyond Peking in the direction of Hankow and he is preparing to dispute the further progress of the Cantonese. The advance guards of the two armies are now only a hundred miles apart, and even, if we allow for the strangely unmilitary methods of the Chinese “war lords,” it is now tolerably certain that the opposing forces will soon meet in a conflict that may decide the destiny of China tor many years to come. At present the prospects seem to favour the Cantonese Apparently they have by far the larger section «f the people behind them, they are better organised than their opponents, and they are fired with enthusiasm by their recent successes. But it must be remembered that the Northern Armies, no less than

the Cantonese, represent and belli v, themselves In l.c patiiot- lighting for their country’s Ireedom Cluing T.soldi maintains that be desires to see bis country united, tree and independent of foreign control, but be maintains that the Cantonese movement is ebielly Itol-hrvik in ebaraeier. aad lie Inis apnealed. not only to the po iple of China, but to the Western Powers to intervene on behalf of civilisation and peace against the intrigues and machinations of the Soviet Republic. 1 1 can hardly be doubted that if the Cantonese are .mere-,f uI. liolsla", ik inlllienees will lie ill the ascendant China for a long time to come, and tlm consequences to the Western v. old may be disastrous in the extreme, (in the other hand, even if Cluing Tsn-lin i- victorious, it does not follow that the mass of the Chinese people will l.e any better disposed towards foreigners than they arc to-day. Eor nationalism, in the sense of a desire for autonomy and freedom from foreign interference, is one of the great characteristic movements of the a and it alone can explain the p-vt lsioa i; f feeling against the "Wcaei’i 1 nation, which marks in sm-li a 'trilling wav the present relation- I . > China and tie.' European I’c - We may eoMelade that wild In : Chang To - lilt wins or loses, the Powers. even when civil war - ease, will sii!' be faced with tile nc -ssity fir adjusting themselves iin.- their interests in tin- Ear East to the ideals and ambitions of a Nationalist Chinn. Tn the ineantiae the immediate responsibility of the Powers is to secure the snfetv of their ■•nationals'' who .at Shanghai and elsewhere. are still exposed to the dreadful possibilities suflieientlv indicated by the fate of Nanking. To this end. therefore the British Government appears to be working, despite the action of Labor in Parlianicift to sprag the wheels, an action which must, be pleasing to the Soviet authorities and to the revolutionaries in China. Were Britain united there would be less hostility in China and mine reason to hope for a peaceful issue. As it is the Chinese are materiallv encouraged by the apparent division of political thought in the Commons regarding definite British action.