CHINA AND JAPAN

Hokitika Guardian, 14 October 1931, Page 5

CHINA AND JAPAN

PREPARATIONS FOR WAR. (United Press Association. —By Electric? ' Telegraph.—Co *yright.) SHANGHAI, October 13. An economic- blockade of the most important Chinese ports by Japan is foreshadowed;. .*• : Six Japanese cruisers, eight destroyers, and fourteen gunboats are already in Chinese waters. Many more are reported to he prepared "to leave Japan at a moment’s notice,. The- political atmosphere, from Canton to Manchuria, especially at Shanghai and Nanking, is super-charged with tearful expectancy.].7 - The situation is regarded as extremely grave. - Wealthy Chinese are quitting Nanking, which if it is unguarded, the Japanese intend occupying. It is reported tiie Nanking official archives are already emptied of important documents. • | • Locally, steps are being quietly and earnestly taken in preparation for the defence of Chinese territory. A remarkable feature of the situation is the unity displayed among the former enemy militarists, they pledging their support to the Nanking Government. Should the League of Nation® fail, Chinn and the country will he forced into war. President Chiang" Kn> Shek’a declaration yesterday that he is - prepared to bankrupt China for fifty years in order to fight Japan in the yvent of the League of Nntlons failing to secure peace, coupled with Japan’s announcement of its determination not to permit the League *to interfere, is not regarded locally .as “liot air.’f < All the 'signs point to Japan’s determination to continue her militaristic programme.