Show does doe s japan apan MASK her purpose who Is 19 the enemy china or the white ann by JOSEPH W labine in shanghai last july two japanese naval underlings unde clings were allegedly slain by the chinese in retaliation a whole fleet of stern nosed nipponese battleships appeared from nowhere and began shelling shanghai i that was the start of japa japans ns current war of defense in china if some of us scratch our heads over the war of defense idea it may as well be explained that the sino jap situation is full of par paradoxes and puzzles for example e japan fears foreign criticism but invites it by shelling american and british ships she claims to be helping china while bombing cities slaughtering innocent natives and destroying everything in sight she dislikes westerners yet makes a fascist pact with germany find and italy she signed the nine power treaty guaranteeing chinas cainas integrity yet now invades that country such perhaps is the history of all nations that go to war breaking treaties and casting aside longes long es governmental tenets if japans unusual attitude seems more hysterical than that of the average nation at war its either because the japs are naive or extremely clever probably clever to so clever that western powers are just beginning to under stand this chinese invasion japan some observers say is warring not on china but on western domination in the orient the divine destiny she pursues is a union of all asiatic nations under japanese domination the net result will be expulsion of british french american and portuguese commercial interests apologies come fast diplomatic files of both america and great britain are choked with so called apologies jor for hostile acts such inch as the panay incident bombing of 11 M S ladybird and the aerial attack on britaina Brit ains ambassador I 1 bas to china but despite these thes e apologies the incidents continue and amazingly many recent oriental attacks on western powers have come from the Chi chinese A chinese pilot bombed the S S president hoover later a chinese antiaircraft anti aircraft shell killed a sailor on the U S S augusta in fairness to the chinese it should be admitted that both these attacks may have been accidental but nationals in shanghai during the last days of its were in more danger ot of harm from enraged chinese I 1 troops than from the attacking japs japans habit of attaching an apology to the tall of every bomb the drops on westerners in china Is to say the least beginning to reek rede of insincerity the panay attack and several others ethers have been established as deliberate we can take little solace from the tact fact that japanese civilians are opposed to such tactics because only the army and navy count in nippon the e emperor M the premier and the people are puppets occidentals dentals have never been pop ular in the orient three centuries ago they invaded china like they invaded america years earlier selfish in their interests despised and suspected they were tribute be bearers areis later to become tribu tribute takers canton was designated by toe the emperor as their sols sole trading and residence area and only a few chinese merchants were permitted to TT IM 00 N R this japanese soldier in a mechanical ear outpost wears a gas mask after beating off a chinese attack chinese authorities have charged the invaders with using poison gas have dealings with them but british american and other traders accepted these insulting terms be cause their ships sailed homeward laden with richer tribute than they had brought occidentals dentals were responsible lor for chinas cainas opium curse for they began smuggling it from india late in the eighteenth century despite governmental ern mental edicts to the contrary in 1839 when china confiscated british opium the english sent ships and soldiers destroyed hall half of canton and forced china to sign her first humiliating treaty in 1842 opium restrictions lifted grudgingly she later made pacts with other occidental powers and permitted establishment of the international ter settlement in shanghai butchino ButCh But China lna resented these privileges of the white men and there was more bloodshed in 1858 1856 alter after which britain wan won trading rights at five additional ports opium importation restrictions were also relaxed to britaina Brit ains glee and poor chinas cainas mis ery in 1859 british and french ships were attacked at taku within two years the allies al ies had taken peking and forced still st another treaty down chinas cainas throat sometime later came establishment of the european controlled imperial customs service at shanghai western conquest of rhina china was growing rapidly shanghai and other cities became occidental featured by skyscrapers european dress rind and the white macs mans customs customs china proud of her ancient culture kept thoresent the resentment of this intrusion rankling in her breast the american indian probably felt the same way and both have been justified 11 japan entered the picture prominently during the world w war ar when she seized german possessions in shantung and gained broad commercial mercial aland and mining privileges with her notorious 21 demands at the YM Y M m Z ak w A U Z As was ever the case in war the women and children are the he real suffer BulTer ers in the sino jap hostilities using every conceivable type of vehicle thousands leil fled such cities as shanghai and where japanese rained down bombs that slaughtered thousands this tah photograph was made as refugees s sought 0 ug ht admittance to the international settlement at during an early flar eup cup washington conference she was forced to relinquish many of these gains but the die had been cast she showed little hesitation about breaking treaties when manchuria began to look tempting her national self esteem has grown tremendously until japan now feels a patriotic duty in uniting the orient under her domination thus the occidentals dentals have two forces driving them out of china first the Chin amans natural hostility and second japans adivi divine n e destiny in the orient our word of honor white men tire are losing face in the F far ar east they have encouraged japan to break treaties by set ting a precedent in the matter thereby parading their weaknesses before the yellow man the orient can no longer rely on the white mans word of honor occidentals dentals traveling in china are warned not to be friendly 1 with the natives a precaution against the danger of lapsing face to be blunt we depend not on power but on prestige to maintain our post position in the far east it is a colossal bluff which is being called today by the clever japanese for nippon has discovered that our lofty idealism and morality is cal and has decided to beat us at our own game instead of prestige japan is using power to cc conquer china great britain will be the greatest loser in this inevitable trade argument with japan in addition to being the largest foreign investor in china she is Nip pons favorite target by virtue of tier her belief in the open door policy tor for china english colonists are so prominent and well established in the far east as to be synonymous in the japanese mind with all that is wrong with occident atals americas loss cannot be as large A 1033 survey showed that united states citizens have about invested in china representing 13 of all investments beyond our frontiers american money amounts to about 7 per cent of all foreign capital in china in order of investments great britain is fir first st japan second russia third and the united states fourth almost two thirds of the american investment is entered centered in shanghai the question japans policy what will happen to io occidental Occident ol investments in china must remain a matter of conjecture dependent first on what policy the victorious japanese may wish to adopt and whether they wish to abide by the open door doctrine doctrin eto to which they subscribed at the washington naval conference it is doubtful if they w will quite obviously every dd advantage vantage will be accorded japanese mer chants already the imperial customs service at shanghai has been removed from european hands and placed under nipponese domination this means that japanese goods may enter china duty free while american and british goods will be assessed heavily but does japan dare close chinas cainas door to britain and america and do britain and america in turn dare risk incurring japans enmity by protesting too loudly against the chinese In invasion vailon the truth of the matter is that britain and america buy 53 per cent of japans exports whereas the same two countries account for 65 per cent of japans imports in terms of trade the three nations are arc mutually dependent last year 23 per cent of americas cotton crop landed on japans shores in addition to worm worth of of oil in iii lumber in wood pulp in machinery and in miscellaneous cel laneous purchases in all 10 per cent of americas exports go to japan each year hands oft off policy in the lighton light of the occidental na afons stake in the orient it is easy to understand why britain and america are forsaking the mailed fist in favor of polite diplomatic exchanges with japan on such topics as the panay arid and ladybird incidents china is not yet beaten her policy has been and will be one of strategic retreat pulling the enemy farther away from home and th thus us making guerilla warfare more successful meanwhile japan finds her war expense rno mounting rapidly and the folks folk s bacr back home may eventually got get ti tired red of paying the bills it is generally conceded that japan must hold out two years to win a complete victory if she does she will control china and can hold the western nations at her mercy if china wins japan will be driven back to her island empire buethe occidentals dentals will not necessarily profit on the contrary chinas cainas years oi of grief will have welded its peoples into a strong purposeful nation ready to trample on the foreigners who now hold sway in her rich cities either way you figure it the yel low peril has become the white te mans peril 0 western newspaper union |