Japan WILL stay in Manchuria

Radio Record, Volume V, Issue 30, 5 February 1932, Page 3

Japan WILL stay in Manchuria

| In the following article, delivered recently from 2YA as a talk by * X Dr. Guy H. Scholefield, is given an illuminating recital of hard economic facts which portend a permanent Eastern change. In view of the latest development of serious hostilities between Japan and China, this article will be of especial topical interest.

THE position in Manchuria today seems very much as it has been for the past three months. The main difference is that Japan has taken firmer hold of the control of the country and has made it clear to the League of Nations that she does not intend to relinquish it. She asserts that the position is not changed, except for the better, and that she has no intention of usurping the sovereignty of the country. The Chinese troops are quite incapable of resisting the Japanese. 4 Many of them have been ordered to withdraw so as to avoid a collision, while others are held checkmated by the Japanese. Japan claims that her energy just now is absorbed in combating the bandits in Manchuria. And no doubt they are. You must remember that not long ago Manchuria was a wilderness, with a very sparse population, mostly of nomads-a happy hunting ground for bandits. Ter fLennrk she mnada men ane a

Att SGNEy §44N UU pi vinces of a country like China are normally infested by robbers. (It is not so very long since Australia and even New Zealand had their lawless characters in the backblocks). They were eliminated by the construction of railways and roads into the interior. Ing Manchuria there are vast tracts which are still uygroaded, and there are h§rdes of men who have not settled down, and find it easier to make a living by robbery than by work. It is alleged that the Japanese, even if they have not "rigged" this bandit menace, have been only too glad to be able to point to it as a reason for their opera- . tions in Manchuria, but it is wise to be careful of accepting suggestions of this sort from either side. Times of great

to produce reliable news. Observers all seem to agree that the Chinese themselves are quite incapable of keeping order in Manchuria,

just as their soldiers are incapable of resisting those of Japan. The Chinese are not a martial people. It is pathetic to see them put into a position when they must either fight or suffer a great loss of territory and of self-respect. Mr. O. D. Rasmussen, in the December "Fortnightly Review" gives an interesting description of the Chinese soldier of the present day.

They have no military traditions at all. As fighting men they are. rarely effective in attack. For this reason a most. successful Chinese gen~ eral, Chang tso Lin, used Russians and Japanese as shock troops in the recent faction wars. The Chinese have many old-fashioned notions about war. During the revolution in 1912 the fighting at Hankow start- ‘ ed at sunrise each day, and stopped punctually-at 11 o’clock for lunch. When Hankow was in danger twelve months ago the rebels estimated carefully the time it: ought to take for the ‘Government troops to. reach the town, and made ™ their arrangements for resistance accordingly. When the troops arrived by forced marches a few. days earlier and took the : (Concluded on page 24),

Japan Will Stay in Manchuria

(Continued from page 3.) town by surprise the rebels were quite offended. ‘They resented the enemy’s tactics, and complained that it was ‘not the custom" to march during the night. Chiang Kai Shek, one of the most successful generals, could not persuade his men to fight in the rain. They only agreed to march in rain if they had umbrellas. As for the bandits, they are a sort of irregular soldiery. Generals have a habit of counting their success by the number of men they can enrol, and bandit troops are often taken into the service on the spur of the moment. Sometimes the leader is made a general, and given a lump sum of money for his adherence, occasionally £10,000 to £20,000. The line between peasant, bandit, soldier, and farmer is not very clear. A man ean fill all these roles in a very short time. At the same time Chinese are capable of muking fine soldiers, under proper training and leadership. We must not forget what General Gordon did with his Ever Victorious army against the Taepings 70 years ago. At (the present day, too, there is the Wei hai wei Chinese Regiment, which is a very fine unit. : Not only is the army ineffective, but China itself is powerless owing to the state of its finances and its weak hold on the administration. The Nutional Government is practically bankrupt. Only the other day an arrangement was made with the banks. They agreed to advance £2,000,000 a month to the Government on condition that they had a say in its disposal. It is hardly likely they would permit it to be used for purposes of war. What a shadowy position the Government is in is evident from the complaint that three of their number (including Chiang Kai Shek.) refuse to come to Nanking to enable the arrangement with the banks’ to be

completed. You see, therefore, how hopeless is the idea that China will be able to offer any resistance at all to the advance of the Japanese. The question is: What does Japan intend to do? There can be no doubt that she is in Manchuria to stay. They have seized the governing authority over 20,000,000 Chinese and an area of 200,000 square miles; and they have made it clear that they do not intend to relinquish it. China has appealed to the League of Nations to take stronger steps. The League’is faced by a difficulty which must be appreciated even by China’s best friends. What can the League propose that will be at all workable? It has no military force at its command. Even if it could eject Japan, what steps could then be taken? The League has set up a commission, of which Lord Lytton has been elected chairman, to report upon the whole Manchurian position. This will of course take time, and China already complains that too much time has been given to Japan to achieve her objects. Lord Lytton is a many-sided man of wide experience, political, official and commercial. He was once Under-Ser-retary for India and was leader of two Indian delegations to the League of Nations’ Assemblies. He is also director of sundry big commercial undertakings, Meanwhile Japan has solemnly re iterated that she has no designs on the sovereignty of Manchuria. She declares that she will maintain the policy of the open door (i.e., equal opportunities for all nations and no discrimination) until such time as she can evacuate Mauchuria without danger to Japanese residents there. The question is what sort of settlement can the commission possibly propose that will be acceptable to both parties? It is plain that China has neither the strength nor the experience to administer the country under modern conditions. She is in a state of pupilage herself; and her own Government within China proper is anything but stable. Manchuria, when all is said and done, is essentially a case for a mandate. But to what Power should it be entrusted? No European nation would think of taking up such a task, They are, all too exhausted by the war and by their own economie troubles. Perhaps also they are a little disillusioned. The only possible mandatory Power is Japan. She could carry out the task. Her material interests are a guarantee of stability and order, But she is not guiltless of the charge of ruthlessness. That has been in evidence in Koren. China would = undoubtedly protest on the grounds that she is the sovereign Power in Manchuria; and democratic people generally would be inclined to protest against 20 million Chinese people being subjected to the rule of Japanese administrators. In any case. Manchuria would be a hotbed of intrigue.

Feeling Cannot Counter Facts. MM24ANWHILE feeling between Japan ‘and China has become steadily worse. Miss Hlizabeth Green, of the Institute of Pacific Relations, who has just returned from the Hast to Honolulu, writes that in China "National shame and an inflamed patriotism find their ready expression in the public prints; while the economic boycoti steadily grows in strength and student zeal is more and more difficult to curb." As you know, there have been outrages against Japanese in China proper, including more than one murder; and China has been called upon for substantial redress and for the suppression of the anti-Japanese associations in China. This is asking a good deal. The Chinese Government is obviously incapable of controlling the passions of its people. Japan has threatened retaliation against the Chinese in the immediate hinterland of Shanghai. This is a more serious matter. Shanghai is in China proper, 700 miles from Manchuria and only 150 miles from the national capital at. Nanking. It is, moreover, an international city, and the centre of the principal foreign settlements in China. Its municipal government is a_ striking example for the Chinese themselves to follow. The foreign naval squadrons generally lie off the town of Shanghai, and there are in the district detachments of troops from various countries (America, Britain, Japan and France) aggregating something about 5000 of all ranks, This is for the protection of Shanghai in times of trouble.. The foreign settlement of Shanghai is over 80 years old and the foreign inhabitants maintain a defence force of their own, which was established as far back as 1854. It numbers about 1600 and consists of separate companies of American, British, Japanese, Chinese, Russian and Portuguese. The old Portuguese colony of Macao dates back to 1600. There is also a separate Scottish company. You will agree, I think, that the position between China and Japan is full of anxiety for all the nations which belong to the League. The sympathies of Western people will naturally be with China; but the hard facts of economic necessity fully explain (if they do not justify) the overbearing conduct of Japan. It is only fair to quote once more from Miss Green. She says elsewhere: that at least in the cireles in which she moved in China one heard two- denunciations of Manchurian official incompetency for every one against Japanese aggression, and more bitterness and sorrow expended on a certain’ vacillating military figurehead and on the aptness of Chinese irresponsibles in’ genera] to be used as tools, than on the tendency of foreign infiuences to make use of such incompetence and venality,