ASIATIC CONQUEST

Wairarapa Times-Age, 10 January 1939, Page 7

ASIATIC CONQUEST

JAPANESE MARCH OF EMPIRE MILESTONES IN EXPANSION. AMBITIOUS GOAL IN VIEW. Japanese capture of Hankow and Canton places every major Chinese city under the Rising Sun banner, with nearly a half-million square miles of territory. The results, if not the aims, of that much-disputed document, the Tanaka Memorandum of 1927 on Japanese methods for Asiatic conquest, are largely fulfilled as regards China (says lhe "Christian Science Monitor"). Milestones in Japan's expansion on tc the Asiatic Continent begin with conditions imposed upon China after the war between the two countries in 1894-95 which arose over disorders in Korea. Japan then turned on to a

path which could only mean shutting

the West out of East Asia. The subsequent stages in the march of empire are as follows:- —

Treaty of Shimonoseki, 1895.—Cession to Japan of Formosa and the

Pescadores Islands. Recognition of Korean independence. Cession to Japan of Port Arthur and Liaotung Peninsula. promptly cancelled on demand of Russia, France, and Germany. Russia takes over Manchurian privileges denied to Japan. Russo-Japanese War, 1905-06. —Japan becomes world Power by defeating Russia. Manchurian privileges of Russia taken over by Japan, including Port Arthur in Kwantung Leased Territory, railway zones, and Shushun collieries.

Korea annexed by Japan, 1910. after years of infiltration.

Twenty-one Demands of Japan on China, 1915. divided into five groups: 1. Japan’s claims to pre-empt German rights in Shantung. 2. Japan’s claims in South Manchuria and Eastern Inner Mongolia. 3. Demand that development of

Yangtse Basin resources be shared by China with Japan “when the opportune moment arrives.” 4. China "not to cede or lease to a third Power any harbour or bay or island along the coast of China.” 5. Measures reducing China to Japanese protectorate.

Treaty of Versailles, 1919, transfers German rights in Shantung to Japan. Washington Conference, 1921, results in new Sino-Japanese treaty restoring Shantung leased territory to China. Nine-Power Treaty guarantees Chinese territorial and governmental integrity. "Friendship Policy” of Japan toward China, 1922-27. Trade flourishes.

Conquest of South Manchuria begins at Mukden, 1931. Harbin falls the following year, completing conquest of North Manchuria.

Manchuria’s independence proclaimed February 18, 1932. with that of Inner Mongolia, followed March 1 by creation of puppet State, Manchukuo, with Henry Pu Yi. former “Child Emperor” of China, as Emperor Kang Teh. Japan occupies Jehol Province, March; 1933.

Tangku Truce, May. 1933, leaves' Japan, with foothold south of the Great Wall.

Japan occupies Chahar Province, ; 1935. Hopei-Chahar Political Council ! set up in December at Peiping, under Japanese influence. Present China war opens, July 7. 1937, with skirmish near Peiping. Peiping falls without -serious fighting, or destruction, August 2, 1937-. Shanghai is. taken the following November. China removes Governrpent from Nanking to several capitals. Hankow centre of defence. Bombing of United States gunboat Panay by Japanese planes in Yangtse River near Nanking, December 12. 1937.

Nanking falls. December 17, 1937. Japanese occupy Shantung in December and a Provisional Government for all China is set up. China’s “big victory” at Taierhchwang, near Suchow, April 6. 1938. During the summer of 1938 Japan slowly, but steadily, advances up Yangtse Valley toward Hankow. Canton falls quickly. October 21. after air bombings over period of a year or more. Three days later the British gunboat Sandpiper bombed but not sunk at Changsha. Japanese occupy Hankow October 25, completing rout of Chinese in Central and South China almost simultaneously. In a year and a-quarter of warfare Japan has occupied nearly half a million square miles of Chinese territory. Much of the territory is held only by a skeleton military grip on strategiccentres. “The way to gain actual rights in Manchuria and Mongolia is to use this region as a base. and. under pretence of trade and commerce, penetrate the rest of China. We shall proceed to conquer India. the Archipelago, Asia Minor, Central Asia, and even Europe." These words from the Tanaka Memorandum of July 25. 1927, were disclosed at Geneva in November. 1931. They were branded as foreign forgeries by Japan; today they have largely been carried through by Japan as regards China.