JAPAN AND CHINA

New Zealand Times, Volume XLIV, Issue 10272, 6 May 1919, Page 5

JAPAN AND CHINA

THE SHANTUNG SETTLEMENT

SERIOUS PROTEST BY CHINA

By Telegraph—Pro?r Association— Conyrlabt Australian and N.Z. Cable Association. PARIS, Hay 3.

The Chinese delegation has issued a statement declaring that it views with astonishment the Shantung settlement. China came to tho Conference imbued with tho strong faith of the Allies’ lofty principles as tho basis for a just peace; but the Chinese people would be disillusioned over the settlement. If it was m reason to stand firm over tho disposal of Flume, there was all tho more reason to uphold China’s claim, involving tho future welfare of 39,000,000 souls, and the highest interest of peace in the Far Fast, By transferring; Germany’s rights to Japan, the Conference is perpetuating an act of aggression which has been resented by the Chinese since its perpetration. It is clear that the Council has been bestowing on Japan the rights, not of Germany, but of China, and a more powerful Ally had reaped benefits at the expense of a weaker Ally. ? The substitution becomes graver when the position of Japan in South Manchuria and Eastern Mongolia is read in connection with it. She is firmly entrenched on both sides of the Gulf of Pechili, the water outlet for Pekin, with a hold on the three trunk lines' which issue from Pekin to the rest of China. The capital therefore becomes enclosed in tho midst of Japanese influence. Tho Chinese understand that the Council’s decision was' prompted by the fact that Britain and France undertook, in February and March of 1917, to support, at the Peace Conference, Japan’s claims to German rights in Shantung. Tho statement points out that China was not a party to this secret pact, nor was she aware of its contents when she became a belligerent. Also, Japan’s claims appear to be incompatible with President Wilson’s Fourteen Points. - LONDON, May 3.

The Japanese agreement included the recognition of the Chino-Japanese Treaty of 1915. Japan obtains all Germany’s rights and properties at Kaiochau, secures the Shantung railway and mines, and controls the police.