The 1911 Treaty of Alliance be-jing to escort our Australian con-tween Great Britain and Japan has/tingent and finally in policing with been the subject of much comment by our northern contemporary, the "Peking & Tieatsin Times." The articles published have doubtless been read with a great deal of interest by students of Eastern politics. The Treaty in question was to remain in force for ten years, and unless denounced twelve months before its expiration by one or the other of the High Contracting Parties, that is on or before July 13. 1920, it is to remain in force automatically until denounced by one year's full notice being given by either side.
The objects of the Alliance were chiefly The consolidation and maintenance of the general peace in the regions of Eastern Asia and her navy the Mediterannean. No further military operations were undertaken by Japan until she participated in n> ssrall_ measure in a joint military expedition into Siberia.
The question, however, of equal opportunities for all, a very important part of the treaty, ie. the so-called open door policy, to put it bluntly has not been viously carried out by our Ally. community of people can ever accuse the British of not keeping the door of commerce open wide enough to allow of all and sundry coming and competing wherever her nationals have been gathered together. Can Japan say the same of Manchuria?
Later Caarrers yr ins War.
The preservation of the common interests of all Powers in China ensuring the independence and integrity of the Chinese Empire and the principle of equal opportunities for the commerce and industry of all nations in China.
The maintenance of the territorial rights of the High Contracting Parties in the regions of Eastern Asia and of India, and the defence of their special interests in the said regions.
Tue Japanese Minitarists:
The 1911 treaty in a great measure followed the lines of the 1905 Treaty, and it is a very open question that, had the treaty of 1911 not been concluded, Japan might have found it in her interests to form an alliance with Germany, whose military power not only offered great attraction but had sunk very deeply into the minds of the Japanese military party. In reviewing the past history of events, we can well recollect how the local Germans, out of sheer jealousy, ridiculed the alliance, their remarks at the time not being particularly complimentary to our Ally. Had the alliance not been concluded and a Japanese-German alliance been an accomplished fact, it does not require very much imagination to realize how matters would have shaped themselves in the Far East during 1914 and 1915.
The Japanese, it cannot be denied, due to their obligations under the Treaty, assisted very greatly in driving the Germans from Tsingtao, chasing the German fleet from Chinese waters to its doom at the Falkland Islands, help-
In 1911 when the alliance was concluded, China was passing through the throes of a so-called peaceful revolution. The Manchus were being driven from power. The Emperor of China, tie Son of Heaven," ceased to exist, and China with her teeming millions became a Republic, It is to be greatly regretted that, from that day to this, the Republic of China has done nothing in particular. Throughout the war China's action was weak and © irresolute both politically and from a military standpoint, she lost valuable opportunities of strengthening her position in the world from a purely commercial point of view. During the early part of the war, she sat on the fence, many of her leading people were pro-German and she did nothing to check unscrupulous German propaganda.
To give China all credit due to her, it is said that she was quite prepared to align herself with the toute Powers in the latter half vf 1915 upon mutually satisfactory terms. It was Japan who then upset the arrangement because she viewed with apprehension the moral danger of the awakening of the military ardour of 400,000,000 Chinese.
When China did join the Allies, nothing was done beyond allowing large numbers of well paid coolies to join the Labour battalions. In return she secured suspension of the Boxer Indemnity, the German Boxer indemnity being wiped off the slate, and, further, an increase in her import tariff. In addition to this monetary benefit, China continued to borrow money from Japan, sums running into millions of yen, and it would seem that she became so entangled in Japanese meshes that in 1915 China not only signed a Treaty giving all German rights in Shantung to Japan, but had to acquiesce in the celebrated Twenty-jone Demands. China appeared politically to have become helpless and an easy prey to the machinations of an astute and wide-awake nation.
Waar ts Duz ro Curxat?
In considering the renewal or otherwise of the Alliance in so far as it affects us in the Far East, we must bear in mind the present political and financial position of the Chinese Government. Alas, one cannot deny the fact that it is absolutely chaotic; while on the other hand if the country were only half properly governed, what a marvellous store-house of wealth! No one knows this better than the Japanese.
Apart, therefore, from the purely British Imperial political outlook, we have carefully to consider when ther, for the future welfare of this vast country, it would be beneficial to renew the Alliance—for England and Japan to work hand in glove, in order to place the sick man of the Far East on his legs, upon lines to be clearly and specifically laid down, or on the other hand for the two nations to work independently, and for England to denounce the Treaty forthwith.
The British, American and other contingents have by this time all withdrawn from Siberia—Japan with a very considerable army still remains. What are her intentions? What are the ultimate aims of the Japanese military party? Have they been explained to her Ally? Are they not going rather further in the tenets of the Treaty than the mere "consolidation and maintenance of the general peace in the regions of Eastern Asia?"
Muatanisa's Feer oF Chay.
Japan has for years been dancing to the tune of the Military party, evidently believing that it was the tune that all great Powers dan Has she now discovered th tune has to be changed and is longer fashionable, and that militarism, German militarism, does not pay? What is the cause of the present social unrest in Japan? Are the people tiring of their Military The facts of the past can be judged on their merits, it is to the future that we have now to look. Ts the 13th of July 1920 to be pass-led over without a word? Is the Alliance to be denounced? Or is j the Treaty of 1911 to be born again, revised and brought up to date.
do not consider it should be passed over and allowed to run on: ithe two Powers are better acquainted. The last six years have taught the High Contracting Parties
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.