CHINESE CRISIS REGARDED SERIOUSLY

Taranaki Daily News, 2 December 1926, Page 9

CHINESE CRISIS REGARDED SERIOUSLY

POSITION CONSIDERED BY BRITISH CABINET AMERICAN WARSHIPS UNDER ORDERS FOR HANKOW POWERS CO-OPERATE TO PROTECT THEIR NATIONALS (Press Association—Copyright.) Received December 1, 8.12 p.m. London, December 1. The news from China is regarded as most serious. Cabinet’ last night considered the situation, and it is understood that Sir Austen Chamberlain will make a full statement in the House of Commons to-day. Received December 1, 8.12 p.m. New York, November 30. Two American destroyers, the Pope and the Traxton, have been ordered to Hankow to protect the lives of foreigners in the present crisis. The American naval force will co-operate with the British, French and other vessels to protect any of their nationals who may be threatened.

London. Nov. 30. The Daily News states that besides the China Squadron, there are numerous international warships off Hankow. The fact remains that Hankow is 000 miles from the eoast and the level of the water in the Yangtsze will fall in the next three months. The 700 foreigners at Hankow are a mere handful among a population of a million. A high authority in China says mere rescue measures are insufficient. If Britain gives up Hankow she must give up Shanghai and Tientsin, which would lead to disaster. Mr. Gull, secretary of the British Chambers of Commerce, has arrived in London. He says a member of the Cautonese Cabinet recently informed him that the Cantonese were aiming at con-

trol of the whole of China and were determined to deprive foreigners of the treaty rights obtained in 1842. They were anti-British, because they believed Britain was the chief obstacle to their aim. They would not abandon the Bolshevik connection until the other foreigners were ousted. The Bolshevik menace in China was very real and at present greatly underrated. The present trouble in Hankow was foretold to him by the member of the Cabinet. The Cantonese believed that the complete paralysis of trade and industry in Hankow, and later in Shanghai, was their most effective weapon. Britain should continue to be ready to negotiate, but ought simultaneously to make plain that she is determined to defend the rights of her subjects.