JAPANESE LANDINGS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 20 February 1940, Page 5

JAPANESE LANDINGS

AT NEW POINTS IN SOUTH CHINA CHINESE FORCES CLOSING ON NANNING. EVACUATION OF CITY DENTED BY INVADERS. By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright. LONDON, February 19. According to Chinese sources in .Shanghai the -Japanese have landed at two new points in .South China. One thousand infantrymen landed at Haiteng and an unknown number on the Lincliow Peninsula, near I he French-leased territory of-Kwangehow. It is believed here that both arc pnnit ive expedit ions. In a third raid since the French protest, twenty-seven Japanese planes bombed the French-owned YunnanKunming railway in South China, completely disrupting the traffic. A Chungking messages says it is claimed that Japanese raiders violated French rights by flying over French Indo-China. The Chungking correspondent of the “New York Times” reports that the Chinese claim to be within a mile of the southern city of Nanning. As long columns of Japanese troops and guns are striking southward, and there are many fires in the city, the Chinese are hopeful that the Japanese are abandoning it. The Japanese deny they are evacuating the city. Chinese military officials confirm that there has been a heavy movement of Japanese to the coast from Nanning but deny that there has been a total withdrawal. They -claim that Japanese resistance has collapsed, and that confusion is reigning in Nanning. The Shanghai correspondent of the United Press says associates of Mr Wang Ching-wei have announced that the proclamation of the Wang Government is scheduled for March 1, coincident With the reopening of the Yangtse to international shipping.