Salt Lake Tribune | 1918-12-20 | Page 6 | Oriental Question

ORIENTAL QUESTION. ( bin esc delegates to the peace conference con-ference have arrived iu Varies. Others will arrive in the course of a few days. ,The Japanese envoys will also foon be :oa hand. After the p'-ace eonfereiK-e i-i ended it is to be hoped that China will no longer 1 c. regarded as a fair ! field fur exploitation by the otlu'r na-j na-j t j on 5, and that it will be impossible to 1 fasten any more one-sided and unfair j treaties upon her. Just what plea the Chinese delegates will make at Pans is uncertain, but it is -.aid the ministers already on the ground "are hopeful that no objection will be offered to her increasing in-creasing her- import duties sufficiently to guarantee adequate funds ,-for the proper maintenance of a government without miscellaneous foreign loans. T? Possibly some treaty may have been extorted from China which, if enforced, would prevent her from increasing her import duties. If so, it should be abrogated. abro-gated. Other nations havo no more rights in China than elsewhere. The L'nited States would fight rather than surrender her right to. arrange her duties du-ties to suit herself, "without tho consent con-sent of any other nation on earth," and, unless might is again placed above right, there will be no interference if China increases her import duties, provided pro-vided she- does not discriminate. As a matter of justice, all tho treaties China has been forced to sign at the point of tho sword or by threat of war, should bo abrogated. Otherwise no one can justly claim that the world has been made safe for democracy, no matter what the outcome at Versailles. The Japanese view, as stated by Mar- ! quia Okuasy, is that ''the relations bo- : tween China and the other powers should be based upon tho principle of the open door and equal opportunity.'5'' 'Ma -ye olden tyme" this would mean that when one of the powers made a grab in China all the other powers would be entitled to an equal share of loot. It would be difficult to say just what Marquis Okuma meant, but it is certain that ho would not allow China a voice in tho settlement of hor affairs, but leave it all to the powers. Tho United States will probably prob-ably appear as China's "next friend5"5 at tho conference, but it is by no means certain that all restrictions will no removed, re-moved, becauso there is much doubt regarding re-garding the ability of the Chinese to govern themselves. The conclusions arrived ar-rived at by the Versailles delegates in this matter will be awaited with a considerable con-siderable amount of interest. On their own account the Japanese dosirn to hold to former Gorman islands now in their possession, ' because it is dangerous to return' them to Germany, Ger-many, and because there is no reason to let tho other powers occupy them.'" We have no doubt but that the Japanese will-get tho islands, but we very much doubt if they will be allowed to retain possession of the German concessions in China to which they have not a shadow of title. The British will also retain possession of islands taken from Germany, Ger-many, and the .Teutons will no longer control a foot of land in the Pacific ocean. The Siberian question will come up at the conference, but Marquis Oku-nia Oku-nia believes the allied 'powers should refrain from any demand acquiring' concessions. con-cessions. As Japan is tho only power suspected of t having had any designs upon Siberia, that question "may be considered con-sidered as settled if the Tokio authorities authori-ties agree with the ex-prime minister. An agreement regarding the orient may not be hard to reach, all things considered. consid-ered. I