Nelson Evening Mail TUESDAY, JULY 23, 1929 THE RUSSO-CHINESE SITUATION

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIII, 23 July 1929, Page 4

Nelson Evening Mail TUESDAY, JULY 23, 1929 THE RUSSO-CHINESE SITUATION

THE immediate cause of the trouble between Russia and China is the Chinese Eastern Railway, which runs through Manchuria for seven hundred miles in a S E direction, from the Siberian border to the border of the region of winch Vladivostok is the chief city. This railway is the direct extension of the TransSiberian Railway to the city and port, last mentioned, and it will readily be understood how important these seven hundred miles of railway are to. Russia. Constructed by the Russians in the days of the Czars, it had been managed for nt least, the last twenty-five years by Russian officials, with the consent of the Chinese. It played a big part in the Russo-Japanese war of 1904-5. and 1 though the Japanese have established what practically amounts to a protectorate over Manchuria, they have not 'tried to interfere with the. Sino-Russian control of this important part of Manchuria's railway system. Rut if the question of this'railway is the immediate cause of the rupture between China and Russia, the basic cause is the Russians' interference ill China's internal and domestic affairs. The circular, issued by the Nanking Government, bears this out: The Soviet. Government utilised various departments of the Chinese Eastern Railway to promote sinister

schemes for assassination, sedition, and the destruction of China's internal arrangements, therefore the seizure of tlie railway was nn act of defence. In oilier words, the issue is between Chinese republicanism and Russian Com- j munism, and it remains to be seen which will succeed, either by arbitration or force of arms, in upholding its prestige. As in London, so in Manchuria. The Russian Communists who were managing the Chinese Eastern Railway under treaty with China used their position (no doubt under the instructions of the Third International of Moscow) to foment revolution and promote tho assassination of public men prominent in Chinese official circles. The expulsion of these Russian officials, and tho seizure of the railway by the Chinese authorities, have been followed by tho invasion of Manehurian territory by what appear to be troops based on Vladivostok. Furthermore, Russian gunboats have appeared at the junction of tho Sungari and Amur Rivers, which is a point on Manchuria's northern boundary. Technically speaking, these actions seem to constitute a state of war, though they very well may be the unauthorised acts nf men whom tho Moscow Government is unable to control. Even so, nothing in the League of Nations' Covenant or in the Kellogg Peace Pact prevents the Chinese Government from forcibly ejecting any Russian troops who may have invaded Manchuria, which is an integral part of China though governed, at least till lately, as a separate republic, and though in a sense a protectorate of the Japanese Government. President Chiang Kai-shek's manifesto to the Chinese Army seems to indicate that he intends to support Young Chang of Manchuria in an attempt to drive out the invading Russians, in which case tho Russian Government will be in a dilemma, for either it must reinforce its troops who have crossed tho Manehurian border, and so bring on a general war between Russia and China, or else it must recall the invading troops and lose prestige and perhaps arouse the enmity of those Russian factions which are clamorous for war. If tho Russian Government is so foolish as to decide for, or to allow itself to be dragged into, war at a distance of thousands of miles from its principal military bases of supply, it will find itself in a worse position than did tho Czar Nicholas when he went to war with Japan for possession of Manchuria. For on this occasion. the Russians would have arrayed against them practically the whole of the Mongolian armies, consisting of large numbers of Chinese troops who have gained considerable military experience in their civil wars, supported doubtless in the last resort by the highly disciplined and efficient army of Japan.