THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 1927. BRITAIN AND CHINA.

Wairarapa Age, 24 February 1927, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 1927. BRITAIN AND CHINA.

Sir Austen Chamjjcnains latest statement on China has opened a mofo hopeful outlook than could have been anticipated not long ago. Events are tending to vindicate Britain’s policy of insisting upon the right to negotiate , “with Chinese officials in any part of China in regard to matters arising in areas where such officials are actually exercising a de facto authority.” This policy of negotiating with the man on the spot is, of course, definitely one of non-interference in Chinese internal affairs. Britain has refused to draw any distinctions between the Pekin Gov-, ernment, and the ‘ ‘ Nationalist” Government which controls the armies that have advanced jttom Canton and are' now in a fair way to dominate tho langtse Valley. As a matter of considered policy, she made identical proposals to Pekin and to tho Nationalists, and her point of view has in a measure at least been accepted by the warring Chinese factions. She has been able to conclude an agreement with the Nationalists relating to Hankow, and the Pekin Government has now invited her to open up “conversations” on tho proposals on which this agreement is based.

It seems possible that Britain may be able to conclude agreements which will hold good with whatever party ultimately gains the upper hand in China. At the-moment, it is clear that Sir Austen. Chamberlain and his offi-

cials are handling an exceedingly difficult situation wit^great skill and discretion. It is an achievement of no mean order to approach even provisional agreement with the native factions in such chaotic conditions as now rule in China.

The agreement relating to Hankow is on all grounds to be welcomed, and not

least because it has been made with what appears to the rising power in China. For many weeks past, the Nationalist armies have been gaining sensational victories, less by fighting than by winning over great bodies of the opposing Northern forces. It seems at present not all unlikely that a continuation of this process may before long bring the Nationalists to the gates of Shanghai, and the occupation of that city may be only an episode in the conquering progress of the Cantonese. Great importance attaches in these circumstances to the evidence offered in the conclusion of the Hankow agreement that the Nationalist Government really desires to keep faith and maintain order in the territories that come under its sway. Tho establishment cf almost any strong Central Government is to be preferred to the conditions of anarchy and civil war that exist at present in China, and it is possible that the Nationalists, in spite of their Bolshevik antecedents, may be destined to establish a more settled order than their unhappy country has enjoyed for many years. In any case, Britain plainly is doing the right thing in adopting an attitude of impartial neutrality towards the Chinese factions save in the extent to which the protection of the lives and property of her nationals is involved.