THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 15, 1908. THE NEW REGIME IN CHINA.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 3070, 15 December 1908, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 15, 1908. THE NEW REGIME IN CHINA.

The coronation of Pu-Yi, the baby Emperor of China, marks the beginning of a new period in the long evolution of Chinese history. His father, Prince Chun, who was appointed Regent by the late Dowager-jEmpress, is believed to be in thorough sympathy with the aspirations of the Chinese for liberal institutions. He has visited Europe and been an eyewitness of the resources whic h modern civilisation has placed in the hands of the Great Powers. He is evidently fully aware of the fact that China must at any rate practise Western methods if she wishes to preserve her territorial integrity, and he is to be supported by a Council composed of experienced administrators, the most prominent of whom is the great Viceroy Yuan Shi Kai. The presence of Yuan Shi Kai on the Council of<

Regency may be regarded as a trust- j worthy indication of the line of development that politics in China may b8 expected to take. Yuan Shi Kai is the recognised leader of the Constitutional Monarchists, who are pledged to resist the revolutionary and republican movement, and to j support the present dynasty. Their | object is to keep China an Empire, while gradually introducing constitutionalism and the participation of the masses in the Government of the country. Yuan Shi Kai is prominently identified with the re organisation of the army, which is already a numerically formidable force equipped with modern weapons and trained by competent European instructors. He is also an advocate of reform in the administrative system, and believes in the maintenance ot a strong centralised Government. Moreover, he aims at promoting a complete reconciliation between the Manchus and the Chinese, thereby fusing the conflicting racial elements in the Empire and encouraging the growth of national homogeneity. The record of Yuan Shi Kai shows him to be a tar-seeing and determined administrator, and the cause of the Constitutional Monarchists seems safe in his hands. He will be virtually the controller of the Regent, and he will have the support of an organised military force, which should effectively safeguard the constitutional regime. Uniess the ex pansionist activity of Japan provides a check, there is every prospect that China, under the Council of Regency, will at once enter upon a period of solid material progress and of improvement in the art of government.