Jan. 6.
Manchukuo, including prospectively the fourth North-Eastern Province of Jehol, is, according to Japanese views, established When Man-inaugurated on March 9, Jehol was included in the area of the new State.
Although careful reference to the Lytton Report and the documents annexed thereto suggest that Japanese claims to Manchuria have been considered as relating exclusively to the Three North-Eastern Provinces, it is only fair to note that the [Japanese Assessor impressed on the Commission of Inquiry that the maintenance of order in Jehol was "a matter of internal policy for Manchukuo." He went'on to add that Japan could not be indifferent to the situ tion in Jehol in view of the important role played by her "in the maintenance of peace and order in Manchuria and Mon-"And the Commission pains to note the close association maintained by the Leagues of Chaota and Chosatu in Jehol with the Banners in Fengtien. General Tang Yuin, the Governor of Jehol, was represented as being in touch with his "colleagues in Manchuria." Nor should it be forgotten that the Mongols of Jehol not take kindly to Chinese overlordship. They probably have no little sympathy with the movement which seeks, by the formation of an independent Mongol state based on Barga, to counter the influence of the 3,000,000 Chinese settlers in Jehol. ' It may be ques-joned whether these aspirajons accord with a desire be incorporated in Manchoukuo. The most that can be id for Japanese policy is that it has not concealed the probability of an eventual severance of Jehol from China as the direct outcome of the creation of Manchoukuo anq the intention to uphold that State as an accomplished fact. In the face of Jehol's Jown history and the present relations existing between General Tang Vu-lin and, through Marshal Chang Hsuel Government of China King, it is hardly possible to ignore the Chinese view that extension of Japanese action into JJehol constitutes a clear breach Jof China's integrity, as under-ood by the Treaty of Washi ton. This does not raise any issue which has not been prominently to the fore ever since September 18, 1931. It merely emphasises the dynamic as distinct from the static nature of the problem now before the League.
'The peace of the Far East, as devise by Japan, now depends on acquiescence' in Japanese control of the North. Whether she is actually forced, against Iher will, to occupy territory south of the Great Wall or merely contents herself with the absorption of Jehol in Manchoukuo, she intends that, what ever administration directs affairs in Peking shall be subservient to her influence. That puts the situation bluntly, but it seems to be the only practical interpretation of the line now being taken. The Government of China at Nanking can be in no doubt on that point at least. It can also console itself with the thought—if the consolation has. any value—that, with the complete unveiling of Tokyo's policy, it is no longer necessary to be lover-apologetic for past sins of omission and commission which ave Japan good. ground for impatience. It is exceedingl difficult now to urge that if China had paid better atten ti to Japanese grievances in Manchuria, this upheaval would not have occurred. The magnitude lof Japan's descent on Chinese soil is due to the fact that, owing to conditions elsewhere, it could be contemplated and" effected [without fear of obstruction from those heavily pre - occupied Powers with whom she was supposed to have been working on definitely agreed lines of policy ever since 1922, Leaving to the authorities" at Nanking the task of deciding their own response to this change in the Far East—a responsibility which they have to discharge with due regard to the uncertainty of the North, the chronic particularism of the South and the fluidity of the situation in the West—it is necessary for the League of Nations to note the implications of what is clearly a threat to its own stability. It is also proper for the European Powers and the United States of America who late signatories to the Washington Treaty with Japan to take stock, The integrity of China guaranteed in that Treaty has been seriously affected by recent. levants. The guarantees are no longer of equal value and their re-assessment, if only for purposes of historical record, is clearly indicated.
Unless the Lytton Report, with scrupulous regard for the principles of fairplay, can be Tmade the basis of the League's definite decisions on this grave issue between Japan and China, the time will come for a full acceptance of the changed position. Japan may successfully reject all attempts at modification of her present thesis. If that event comes to pass there should be no camouflage of its signifi: ance. It may imply a conviction that, in the long run, circut stances will prove to Tokyo that Japan cannot make the armed argument an instrument for her peaceful entrenchment in Chinese territory. It should, however, be} demonstrated that such an instrument is used without the approval of any other nation and at the peril of the user. At the same time it naturally follows that the process of saddling China. with blame for incurring the penalties of her weakness must be profoundly modified. Logic demands that, if Japan is to be freed from obligations destroyed by her sword, China must also be absolved from the charge of con-tributary. negligence. China' will be able, as before, to count on the help of the League in developing those activities which, in her judgment, may assist in her national development. It must be recognised, indeed, that she will be severely circumscribed in the effort, owing to the losses sustained. And the ability of the League to display its remedial powers may be held fin cheek by the very failure x0 Tecorded. Statesmanship may demand—it probably does demand—reticence and restraint on the jert of nations so precariously.
situated as are those in Europe and Americ: to-day.
Tt has to take risks, ing imm are nothing less than those arising from a consolidation of Japan's Far Eastern hegemony, buttressed, as it may eventually be, by the support of a reluctant. ly' complaisant, but vigilant, China. Yet let it not then be said that right has triumphed or that civilisation has vindicated its cherished principles. Those principles find expression in the Lytton Report to which the League must now adhere or face the problem: "sed revocare gra-dum: hie labor, hoc opus est.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.