THE FEAR OF JAPAN.

Taranaki Daily News, 26 July 1919, Page 9

THE FEAR OF JAPAN.

THE SHANTUNG VIEWPOINT, " A SECOND GERMANY." Dr. H. K. Kung, formerly ViceSpeaker of the Shantung Provisional Assembly, and Dr. T. H. Hsu, a graduate of the University of Illinois, who were the delegates chosen by the Shantung Provincial Assembly to present the claims of the people of Shantung to Tsing-tao and Kiao-chau, described, in an interview, tho attitude of their people on the transfer of the territory formerly held by Germany to Japan. They contend that if Japan controls Shantung Province with what is considered the best seaport in China, as well as the railways, it will soon dominate Northern China. Gradually Japan will extend its control over Southern China, they said, and then, when it feels strong enough, it will declare a Monroe Doctrine of the Orient, eliminating Western nations from trade and settlement in the East. In this way Japan, which has become greatly strengthened during the war, will in a comparatively short timo dominate the 400,000,000 of people of China. 'These expressions, they maintain, represent the true feeling of the people of China. "We are chosen by the people of Shantung Province, in which Kiao-Chau and Tsing-Tao are situated, in accordance With President Wilson's principle of the self-determination of peoples," said Dr. Hsu. "The people of Shantung have stated that they consider it unfair that Kiao-Chau and Tsing-Tao, leased to Germany to China, but not owned by it, should go to any other nation* than China, their rightful owner. We are surprised to learn that the Peace Conference has apparently seen fit to give this territory to Japan.

"Under the apparent desire of placating Japan, the peace delegates have given not only Tsing-Tao and Kiao-Chau Bay to Japan, but have also given her ,tho railway from Tsing-Tao to Chi-Nan-Fu, the capital of Shantung Province, ana also the mining rights at three} places on both sides of the railway, which is 300 miles long. "We ! are afraid that ,the Peace Conference has also given to Japan two other proposed railway lines, respectively 250 and 150 miles long, riming through valuable mining and agricultural country. These proposed roads are from Kao-Mihsicn to ilsu-Chou-Fu and from Chi-Nnn-Fu to Hsun-Tih-Fu. If Japan controls the formed German possessions and the railways and mining rights it will control all Northern China, which is about half of China, peopled by 200,000,000 people- Japan will then have a sphere of influence in this section that will bo impregnable. "What Japan desires is a strong naval base in China, and she has chosen for this purpose Tsing-Tao. The people of my country feel that once Japan gets a strong grip on Northern China and begii.3 to control its trade she will close the open door which was established under the direction of Secretary Hay, and will not allow ,the trade of any Western nation to go into Northern China.

"The people of the West must know the true conditions. They do not know what is going on in ,the Orient. We are afraid that President Wilson, Lloyd George, and Clemenccau have been deceived in this controversy regarding the former German concessions in China. We feel that .when Japan gets strong enough she will declare a Monroe Doetrine of tho Orient and eject all Western •peoples from Asia. We do not understand how President Wilson could have permitted Japan to add to her strength I in this war.

"The Chinese feel that Japan is a second Germany; that she took advantage of the opportunity afforded her'by the war in order to start on a career leading to the monopoly of Chinese trade. The former German leaseholds should go back to China, to whom they rightfully belong, for they were merely leased for ninety-nine years to Germany.

"You must bear in mind that before Japan attacked Tsing-Tao early in the war she made a definite promise that she would return it to China after the war. Japan should keep her promise. AlsaceLorraine, which was formerly a part of France, has been restored to her after Germany kept possession of it for fifty years. Tsing-Tao and Kiao-Chau never belonged to Germany, and yet thev have been taken from a friendly and" allied Power to give to Japan, "it seems to us that this does not square with President Wilson's fourteen points. "In the war Japan tried to seize her opportunity to dominate China. She felt that after the war her big chance would be lost. Japan says she desires to keep a special place for settlement on the China coast and chooses Tsing-Tao, just a part of the city, two or three miles square. She says that an open international port may bo offered by China in another section of tho city, but fails to say the part of the city sha Jiow possesses contains tho custom houses, the docks, the railway terminals, and the other necessary features for commercial life.

"So you see that no foreigners would care to attempt trading at the open port. The regions that Japan mav dominate under .these proposed settlements by the Peace Conference include valuable coal and iron mines, and produce many articles, including wheat beans, corn, cotton, silk, millet, hides, and peanuts." Dr. Kung said that a sentimental reason also attaches to the desire of China to retain control of the Shantung Peninsula, for it was in this province that the great Chinese philosophers Confucius and Mencius were born, and it is the cradle of Chinese civilisation. Dr. Kung lays claim to being a direct descendant of Confucius, of the thirty-fifth generation, and he said that the Chinese jave an ardent desire to retain the sacred places of their ancestors

In support of .their assertions that the Japanese seized the war as an opportunity for pressing their influence in China, the delegates quoted from the recently published work of Professor W Reginald Wheeler, of the Faculty of Hangehow College, on "China and* the World War." In his book. Professor V\ heeler writes an explanatory note to the so-called "Black-Dragon" statement ot Japanese policy in China as a result of tho war. Dr. Wheeler quotes a statement from tho secret document, said to have been promulgated in Japan, stating: 'Now is the most opportune moment for Japan to quickly solve the Chinese question. Wo should, by all weans, decide and act at once." "Practically all tho great decisions in Japanese foreign policy since the great war," according to i>\ Wheeler, "as thev affected her relate V*th China, with Russia, and with AaStiy: { were forecasted in this Black T)MjM;< «iemornndun> Consequently the statc"*-Bss as a wVbV and any objective it whit*-ha* not as yet lieen h»s mora thaj> »n ordinary inUrutf , ;