AID FOR REFUGEES

Waikato Times, Volume 125, Issue 20906, 11 September 1939, Page 9

AID FOR REFUGEES

JAPANESE BAN FOREIGNERS NOTIFIED Explicit intimations have been given foreign refugee relief workers by the , Japanese that their help is not ! wanted in areas under Japanese control or attack, says the Shanghai correspondent of the Christian Science Monitor. Latest of these is the move ' to prevent third-power relief orgauisa--1 tions from sending food and other sup- | plies from refugees in Ningpo and other southern ports intermittently un- ; der fire, but the attitude thus mani- ; fested has been clear from as long ago 1 as the Nanking occupation a year and ' a-half back. ! A Japanese spokesman, who was | recently asked about the refusal of the Japanese to allow a Ningpo landing of 300 bags of American Red Cross ' rice and other supplies, briefly de- ' ciared that ‘the policy of the Japan- | ese Navy is to prevent the landing of such supplies.” Policy Long Clear 'Hie policy of the Japanese Army, along similar lines, has long been clear. One of the first incidents occurred at Nanking shortly alter the Japanese occupation; foreign missionaries collected a ship-load of beans, urgently needed to correct dietary deficiencies among the undernourished refugees, and the Japanese refused even to allow the ship to clear from Shanghai until it was agreed to let Japanese organisations distribute this supply from foreign generosity. Such policies seem inhumane to the average foreign observer, but to the Japanese they represent only another phase of efforts to get on top of the Chinese situation. It is reasoned that any sort of directly rendered foreign help is a source of moral encouragement to Chinese resistance, and that while it is not desired to make the • Chinese suffer unduly, it is better—if necessary—that they suffer now than that they (and the Japanese) suffer longer by prolongation of hostilities which the Nipponese assert can be terminated only by breakdown of the Chinese spirit of resistance. Meanwhile a major factor in the

Anglo-Japanese situation as far as Shanghai is concerned is the problem of whether “appeasement” or a stiffer backbone is the proper policy for the local authorities to apply against the torrent of Japanese demands. Special point was given that question recently by the fact that the Shanghai Municipal Council, governing body of the International Settlement, recently made gestures of a definitely appeasement variety at almost the same moment that the American and British Governments were adopting a stronger stand on two points—one, the issue of Japanese naval landing on the International Settlement island of Kulangsu at Amoy, and the other, the question of whether there should be discussions of fundamental changes in the Land Regulations of the Settlement. Foreign Joarnale Suppressed The foreign Governments proceeded to put their own naval landing parties on Kulangsu and said they would not at present discuss fundamental changes in the Shanghai Land Regulations. Simultaneously the Shanghai Municipal Council was suppressing certain foreign-registered newspapers at the request of the Japanese, and staging a demonstration of police power by shutting off certain streets and searching thousands of Chinese pedestrians and occupants of vehicles. In both these things the French Concession collaborated. There is no difficulty in understanding why the local authorities here do not l'eel like challenging the Japanese too directly. They govern what is in effect a little, and divided, 6witzerland. Although foreign defence forces are on the ground, these are quite inadequate to give a fight if the encircling Japanese Army were to resort to forceful entry. What the local authorities want, in default of strong support from foreign governments, is to keep the Japanese as happy as possible and hope that everything will finally somehow turn out for the best.* In two ways the Japanese seem likely to make things harder rather than easier before long. .Another spring may see them getting another , seat on the Shanghai Municipal Council, where they now have two seals as compared with two American, five Britons and li\e Chinese, if they had three seats, and controlled the live Chinese votes, they would have eight to six against an Anglo-American combination. Ladar such

i the revision of the Land Regulation* i might become rather academic. Puppet Government Also, the Japanese are determined to establish some sort of Chinese “pup- „ pet” government strong enough to 1 warrant diplomatic recognition at least J from themselves. They will then demand that this be recognised a* com- ! petent to deal with such issues a* revision of the Shanghai Land Regula- ’ tions. Of course it is not the province of the Shanghai Municipal Council to ; decide such a large issue as that of diplomatic recognition, hut it 1* easy to see that someone will have to be doing some very serious thinking on this matter before long if the Japanese do not suffer such catastrophic reverses as to knock any ideas about Shanghai clear out of their plane. So far, their deadlock against the Chinese in the field only centres attention on Shanghai where they feel they may get somewhere. The French Concession, besides the International Settlement, is able to deal with the Japanese rather easier than the Settlement because it is all French. Roth areas, however, acknowledge Chinese sovereignty as their ba*i»— that is, they are not actually foreign soil, as is the case of the Crown Colouy of Hong Kong—and the Japanese argue that they have inherited all Chinese rights. Some of the privileges formerly exercised by the Chinese. such as censorship of the post* and telegraphs, are actually being controlled by the Japanese, although thus far they have not been able to get control of the Chinese courts in Settlement and Concession for either themselves or their puppet Chinese officials. The court issue is one of the several questions they press in season and out, meanwhile setting an example of lawlessness by fostering gambling, narcotics, and other evils within area* under their jurisdiction.