The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. THURSDAY, AUGUST 25, 1927. AFFAIRS IN CHINA.

Hokitika Guardian, 25 August 1927, Page 2

The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. THURSDAY, AUGUST 25, 1927. AFFAIRS IN CHINA.

Tun latest news from China is considered disquieting in the extreme, by a writer in the Auckland “Star.” The Northern armies have indicted a series of crushing defeats upon the. Nationalist forces, and the Nationalists lire falling, .back southward in dire confusion. A tread j the Northern guns are bombarding Nanking, and fugitives are streaming in thousands into Shanghai and the surrounding territory. The fact that the Nationalist general who litis been commanding the Southern garrison at Nanking hits reached Shanghai “ahead ol his troops” .suggests a wild rush for shelter or safety has begun already. All this means a serious menace L> -Shanghai, and especially to the foreign settlement. For if the Northern armies pursuing the Cantonese are not. chocked they are likely to occupy Shanghai, and it may he difficult,, if not impossible, for their leaders to restrain the rank ami (ile of their troops when once they are. in close proximity to the hated “foreign devils.” No doubt tho international settlement will be efficiently defended. But the situation is certainly precarious, and its gravity serves once more to emphasise the political wisdom of the British Government when it insisted, against bitter criticism and furious opposition, ill dispatching adequate forces for the protection of British interests in the Far East. Mampeople assumed that beeau.se tbe Cantonese Government was better organised than the Poking Government, and at least professed to conduct itself on constitutional lines, therefore it must of necessity prevail over all its opponents. But the real difficulty to be surmounted in conducting a war is finance, and in China no armies have ever been regularly paid, This accounts for the prevalence of banditti who simply live on the country; and tho Southern armies must to a large extent in this respect follow the lead of their Northern rivals. Tn all probability Chang Tso-Lin is quite as well able as Cliiang Kai-Shek to organise and conduct guerilla warfare; and as the Cantonese forces are to some extent divided and demoralised by the Bolshevik trouble, it is quite likely that tbe Northern armies may sweep over tho Yang-t.se and that the Southern Republic may collapse in ruins. Tn any case, for the moment the North prevails, and the present situation raises a very interesting question. A

few weeks a,go the British Labour party was very indignant with Mr Baldwin and Sir Austen Chamberlain for refusing to recognise the Cantonese Government as the real sovereign Power in China. If Britain had taken the advice of Labour, and acknowledged Chiang Kai-Shek and his friends as virtual rulers of the country, what would have been our position now? A few months ago the Cantonese forces held control of Southern and Central China and it seemed to lie only a matter of a few days for them to sweep northward, capture Peking, and reconstruct the Government and administration of the country on Nationalist lines. When after the capture of Nanking the Nationalist leaders decided to wash their hands of Bolshevism, the crusade conducted by Chiang Kai-Shek against the Communists seems to have brought the whole forward movement to a halt. This temporary set-back gave Chang Tso-Lin and his colleagues the breathing space that they required. They have reorganised their forces and, advancing against the Cantonese, have worsted them in several desperate engagements, and it is now reported that the Cantonese armies are retiring in disorder. But what is far more important and significant is the news that popular feeling has turned against- the Nationalists, and that nearly all the members of Chiang KaiShek’s Government have resigned. The reason for their unpopularity appears to be the severity of Chiang KaiShek’s rule, the rigorous primitive measures that ho has adopted against the Communists, anil the heavy exactions to which he has subjected the people in order to support bis armies and finance the war. But whatever the precise cause for this reaction, the Nationalist dream of a democratic

Chinese Republic seems to he fading away.