Marshal Sun Chuan-fang's declar ation of independence is being taken Seriously in local Chinese political circes, where itis generally reger not merely as a statement Policy toward Peking but as a the toward other military leaders. It explained that no such declaration would have been necessary at this time, wore Marshal Sun interested only' in making hig attitude toward Peking clear, as, almost from the begining of his career in this part of Chita, he has consistently refused ty recognize the authority of the Peking Government. The declaration of independence, then, is to be takes connexion with the Kuominchun attack on Shansi, the Huvan war] and the possibility of a conflict i Shantung.
The Kuominchun attack on Shans wal designed to give Feng siang's army a source of revenue as well as to shorten the line between Feng's strongholds in Mongolia and] 'Turkestan and Peking. It was also to have the moral effect of indicating, to the Chinese generally and Fi 'Vu-hgiang's sympathizers in_pa ular that he was not at all politically dead, that his army was intact and in a' position to take the fiori, Ie was also designed to weaken Marshal Wu Pei-fu's position by making it Impossible for him to utilize all his force agarist the Kuomintang in Hunan, It must be taken as a fac that the Kuominchun and the Kuomintang are allied and that they] will assist each other whenever necessary. Mr. Eugene Chen, who} was recently made Minister of} Foreign Affairs in Canton, is an fective worker in the Kuominchun ruther than in the Kuomintang.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.