"There is no Yellow Peril."

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 8079, 7 April 1906, Page 4

"There is no Yellow Peril."

[Bl BIIOS K. SBIEttiTSD.] lam absolutely oonvinoed that the day will ' toon come when every sensible person will a ■ee that the hue And cry raised by the sup- c posed " yellow peril " has been entirely un- f justified " A yellow peril "in the shape of 1 an invasion into the old civilized countries , of the Occident by the united people of Asia is impossible lor various reasons. First, because of the state of civilisation in the East : the national characteristics of the Chinese, , and the disappearance of the old warlike ( spirit among the Mongolian and Tartar races, 1 and, last of all, because Japan would never < think of taking part in any such invasion. , Times have ohanged very much since the • days when it was passible for a leader of ' half civilized hordes to carry them acrcißß continents to attaok other nations. The whole fear of a yellow peril is unreasonable. China has always been and always - will be a peace-loving nation, and Japan will , do her utmost to keep up with the civilization of the West, and her efforts in that i direction will bring her more and more into , harmony with the European powers. It is possible that we may help China to . reorganize her army, but this is only for ' self-defense and for the purpose of maintaining order in the country itself. China will never declare war against any other nation. She knows that she needs no extension of ■ her territory, that she would not know what to do with colonies. If she should adopt an aggressive foreign policy she would only lose some of what she now holds. Japan may give China friendly advice as to how best to develop her industry and . commerce and may even advise her as to

how to organize a sohool system or other public institutions, but the Japanese know the peculiarities of the Chinese too well not to know when the time has come to sjop. | For these reasons it is evident that all talk of a " yellow peril " in a militarv sense of the word is idle and foolish, but the people who refuse to give up their ideas of some kind of" yellow peril " ask me: " Can you guarantee that the commerce of Japan will not develop and in time destroy ours? " Ibis, of course, I cannot; but I sincerely wish that there was a possibility, but, alas, many centuries will pass before Japan shall be able to compete in any way with Europe and America. It is true that our commerce has grown very rapidly during the last twenty years, and we hope that it will continue to do so, but the progress will not continue with the same rapidity as the years pass by, and what are, after all, the economio resources of Japan compared to those of the countries of the West ? But even should Japan in time to come be able to compete with the Occidental countries, has not every country the right to try to improve itself ? Why do the nations of the West speak ae much of their Christian morals, their civilization and education, when they consider the ambitions, peaceable and orderly efforts of a small nation to reach the same level a menace and evil ? I think the time is past when such views were justifiable. What is wrong for one is wrong for everybody, the same morals should guide nations as guide individuals. We Orientals cannot reconcile ourselves to the theory that morality is excluded from international politics. More than- twenty centuries ago we had in Japan a school which advocated the same principles as Macchiavelli in politics, but it could not thrive in Japan, and soon died out. We believe that the same moral principles must guide nations and individuals. I know that many consider this foolish, but if it is we are content to be fools. Ido believe that commercial intercourse between the Far East and the West will develop very rapidly after the end or the present war. !the West begins to understand the East better and vice versa, and this will lead to closer and more intimate relations. There are other people who fear that differences arising from racial peculiarities may lead us into conflict. Of this 1 have not the slightest fear. The Oriental people have very little race pride ov race prejudice, and this is especially true of the Japanese. Of course, we despise arrogance and are sensitive to injustice, but as long as ouf pride and sense of justice are not hurt we have none but friendly feelings for other nations, and we know the respect we owe the Western people. It is said to-day that Japan, has become a great nation, but if this is so we are well aware of the increased responsibility this plaees upon us, and we will do all within our power to maintain friendly relations with Europe and America and to follow in their footsteps toward a higher degree of civilization. As for the Chinese, they cannot do anything better than to follow our example. One thing I must say, the white people will have to change their way of treating the yellow race. They must learn to consider us their equals.- They will have to oease taking everything away from us without giving us anything iu return. The powers will find it far better policy for themselves to recognize that the Chinese Empire must remain intact, and they must give up their plans of dividing it among themselves. The Americans and Europeans who go East in the future will have to give up treating us in their old overbearing, bigh-ninded manner. Our ethical ideas may beat fault o- many points, but we also possess virtues of which any man might well be proud.