Wairarapa Times-Age WEDNESDAY, MAY 1, 1940. ENDING THE “CHINA AFFAIR.”

Wairarapa Times-Age, 1 May 1940, Page 4

Wairarapa Times-Age WEDNESDAY, MAY 1, 1940. ENDING THE “CHINA AFFAIR.”

ALTHOUGH it is said to be regarded as the most conciliatory appeal yet. made by the Japanese Army for a settlement of the differences between China and Japan, a. statement by General Itagaki which was reported yesterday contained sweeping charges against. Britaiii and other 1 oweis. 11 also, however, gave some indication of a. desire lor peaceful understanding with China and that in itself is to be welcomed. It may’ be noted only in passing that it is a. little comical, that the former Japanese War Minister and present Chief of Staff in China—bearing individually his full share of responsibility for an entirely lawless and piratical attempt to subjugate and enslave China—should now invite China to combine with Japan in combating not only Communism, hut Britain's “monopolistic position, in East Asia.” It seems possible that even the most fanatical ol the Japanese militarists —those most eagerly intent on extending Japanese hegemony over East Asia—are. now keenly alive to the necessity of bringing the “China affair’ to an end as soon as possible.' On its results to date and any that it seems likely to yield, the invasion of China manifestly must be classed as the most unprofitable adventure in which Japan has ever engaged. The worst effects of the undeclared war which is now well advanced in its third year have fallen on China. That country has suffered a loss of millions ot lives by war. Hood, famine and disease and a colossal destruction of property. The invaders, however, have not gone unscathed. They have suffered a loss at least of hundreds of thousands of lives and .have suffered and are suffering also a tremendous economic drain. It has been stated that there is little or no hope of Japan recouping herself for generations to come for her immense financial and military effort. At the same time, although Japan holds the whole seaboard of China and much of that country’s interior territory, victory in. the undeclared war is as far as ever Irom being in prospect. This appears not only in events like those reported yesterday—a vigorous resistance, by the Chinese to Japanese military drives in Shansi—but in the conditions ruling in areas occupied by Japan, in which openly organised Chinese resistance has long ceased. As an American correspondent wrote recently:— It is no light task to keep a million or more of the finest men of such a nation as Japan in more’ or less permanent occupation of another country. Occupations of this sort have never paid dividends—least of all when the areas occupied have been very large- - ly devastated. In this case, China’s “scorched earth” policy has spread destruction in the invaders’ path, and the best of the population has removed inland. Tragic as it is in its development, of what can. only be regarded as murder and destruction on a colossal scale, the long-con-tinued invasion of China has aspects that might almost be called humorous. The Japanese people have been told of victory after victory, and it is perfectly true that organised Chinese forces engaging in battle have been defeated again and again with almost unfailing regularity. Tn spite of all defeats, however, the Chinese continue their resistance, by methods which are peculiarly their own and which to the Japanese are infinitely harassing and soul-disturbing. There have been almost pathetic denunciations by Japanese commanders and others of the refusal of the Chinese to admit themselves defeated and to behave accordingly. While Chinese mobile and guerilla tactics are compelling the Japanese to maintain a huge army in China, the invading forces in great part are thinly scattered. In most of the garrisoned cities (one recent account of the situation states) it is reported that there are only about ten Japanese, with perhaps 200 of their Chinese allies, who contrive to keep on good terms with the Nationalists and occasionally manage a feast together in the interest of better understanding—to say nothing of smuggling out quantities of their Japanese-provided arms and ammunition. These troops, like many of the “puppet’ officials, secretly profess allegiance to China’s cause and say they only await an opportunity to turn against their current employers —making rather a slim prospect, it would seem, for continued proJapanese influence in China. General Itagaki’s statement' is only one of many indications that the Japanese perceive the dilemma in which they are involved in China and are desperately anxious to find a way of escape. How they are to escape, however, is a puzzle yet to be solved. Speaking in Chungking a month ago, at the final meeting of the People’s Political Council of China, a body now to be superseded by a National Assembly, General Chiang Kai-shek said that, peace in China as a result of the co-operation of Washington, London and Moscow was possible. The Chinese leader at the same time made it clear, however, that he had no thought of surrender. He declared that Japan’s growing weakness was manifested in the formation of the Wang Chingwei regime at’Nanking, which was being used, he said, to tool the Japanese people and the outside world. He declared that Chinese resistance was not only continuing but was growing stronger, that the Chinese forces were fighting harder than ever before and that Japanese casualties in the Hunan, Kwangtnng, Kwangsi and Suiyuan Provinces in the last six months had totalled upwards of 230,000. Japan has been only too successful in inflicting martyrdom on China, but in dning that, she has opened no bright prospect for herself. Her people, burdened and overtaxed, are giving increasing expression to their. dissatisfaction and discontent and her international relations are in bad shape. Even in these circumstances, however, it would perhaps be optimistic to anticipate any such settlement effort by the ruling factions in Japan, as the Nationalist Government of China would be prepared to consider. AN IMPERIAL ACHIEVEMENT. AMIDST the cares of war, a groat peaceful enterprise was carried yesterday to a stage of practical accomplishment when the flying-boat'Aotearoa made the inaugural. flight from Auckland to Sydney in a regular Tasman air ser\ice. V\ underfill strides liave been made in aviation in the comparatively brief span of years since the first pioneering attempts were made to cross the Tasman by air, beginning with the gallant but ill-fated venture in which Captain Hood and Lieutenant Moncrieff lost their lives. Though the crossing has since been accomplished by a number ol people, irom Gu\ Menzies onward, in single-engined planes, it has long been evident that a commercial service could only bo undertaken bt lai go and powerful aircraft of the typo nowl being employed. . Much of the credit for the practical pioneering of the service now inaugurated must go to those famous airmen, the late Sii Charles Kingsford Smith and Mr Ulm and their associates. Not merely as bringing New Zealand and Anstialia into very much closer and more convenient touch but in enabling this country Io partake in full measure of the . honoflls and advantages' of air transport from end to end of the Empire, the establishment of the Tasman service is.ol commanding importance. The march of progress in aviation is rapid, and gallantly as the Aotearpa and her consorts are able Io acquit Hioniselvos, they will no doubt be improved. upon greatly in the comparatively near future. The immediate value 01. the Tasman air service in affairs both ol war and peace will he very considerable. II may he hoped that days are coming in which facilities for swift communication will he turned to account with valuable and ever-increasing elfiud in promoling peaceful co-operation within and beyond the Empire. Il is meantime, as the Minister ol Defence (Mr Jones) obseixed yesterday a remarkable demonstration ol the energy 'and resources of the British peoples that such an achievement, as the establishment, of the Tasman service has been found possible in these davs of war.