'RUOIA AND THR Soviet Union me rH.
Fan Easr—With Maps. By. Viet Yakhontoft. "Allen" & Unwin, London. 18/~
General Chiang Kai-shek is no more than a tuchun of the old days, and, dealing with the influence of the war-lordism of the present-day China, he says that he finds it hard to entertain The author of this book is a former. offer of the Imperial Army Who has been on the General Sta of the Soviet Government. Where, therefore, he deals with Russia's influence in the Par East he preaches with all the fervour of the converted. He represents. the Soviet Government as entirely free from sinister claims or ambitions, with no need for further expansion and no desire to embark on armed conquest. She is striving to re-establish friendly relations and this endeavour she has any rosy hopes in this connection. For ft seems unlikely that the un: ill "be relieved of] cumstances predatory and through npr ty tain He devotes toe Treaty of 3926 a Shaper en ith the ate cone host i Sab summit "mischief making" '(aa chit cen caled Shy enemies of Soviets), No attempt, however, is made, by the Moscow authorities to' deny that emmeniam lis inroads into Chinese, to neglect the the foreigners the In) which the World War "remnant san blamed for the tuan taken by this movement Inter that the theor.en onceeed not only" In thole" own. country, where hey are jim full "power, but abroad hois aim, lk that of all action. and a negeated. some. ways. of Tee octo enated Peri of ecnaatacien (hough erty Betar ons mate face obvious objection' because the this, diagnosis there will be
tuther's natural predisposition in favour of his former "Boviet esl re lands, more, what they:
rey and their final goal is. th -tnlen and ce-operation ofall man ty. Are they right or wrong? Will fir dream come true? Tt jasnot our Tome "Hint strengerat the. expen igtrone ant foun those who ave wesk and Couple rear, nas joylet Russia with others in, the Far:
other words, ce-operation. of
fei bao Guinn trid' not for her detriment, This is not an unfair way of putting the case for Soviet Wasa, although ite. avoidance of certain damning facts will be noted. "With this" preliminary, aknontort is to' be Congratulated on having produced an eminently Feadable and effective review of the Far Eastern panorama, He gives the first section of his book a clear account of the history. of Sino-Russian relations "and the events leading up-to. the "Russo Fapanese Wat. "He comes to the 'The International situation. uilyed made Rt porible for: Resaia fo. withdraw, pepeiealy creen from the! Fat them' co"fient on the Buropes Japan' A with Great Britain and" Russia and hee under: standing with. Franco Insused. at Jontt her neutrality: bot by the loge Tine' with tne "lite ad even "forced things brought it acluely tite (venter into the "He considers that the Pa Asiatic aj|movement must be taken into consideration but- does not offer. a serious threat of further complies ions or the relief of existing tension, and he ends on. the. plea, already noted, for cooperation in the Far East. He does not see the Lengue of Nations as at [present constituted is capable of ensuring this cooperation, but he himself' is content. to fall' back on the' very same generalities which, jon the of the League Nations, he would describe as use-Teas platitudes.
The advantage of this book is that. it represents a well-informed effort on the part of a Russian student to present to American readers the Russian point of view of developments in the Far East. This method of approach eliminates the emotional factor which puts too much stress on the moral issues, important as Mr. Yakhontof' is essentially} 'a realist in. the political out-Took and it is well' that British land American readers should have opportunity of seeing the view taken of their respective Governments' policies by. an interested Joutsider. It should be added that {the book contains a large number lof Treaties and Agreements, some Jof which have never been published before, while others are translated into English for the first time, Te fslso contains 'a useful chronology fand a most exhaustive bibliography.
fact itis. @ book to. be. placed among that exclusive section in the library which is confined. to. vital contributions. to the study of Far Femained as belonging Ented' by the Central Po Far Bust was taken care of As representative extraordinary and
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.