By Gronce Conferences. are being held this week in Shanghai, Nanking and other cities among' Chinese politicians to determine upon a course of action for the various political groups arising out of the changes resulting from the war and the disappearance from political life of Marshal Feng Vu-hsiang. There are now six different parties vying with each other for control of China: Peking, (Canton,. Hankow, Tsinanfu, Nanking and Mukden. These parties represent military power rather than political opinion and the basis for action is not principle but feudal authority over troops and territory. None of these feudal groups possesses enough power to control all its components, much less to dominate the country. None of these groups is strong enough to win a vital military victory over its opponents or any combina~ tion of opponents. The purpose, then, of the conferences seems to be to find 'a method of fixing the status quo until such a time as a mote popular Government can be brought into existence in Peking, which shall be a position to act as a clearing house among the various feudal groups.
Meanwhile the Kuomintang has been split up into factions almost! beyond recognition. There are two headquarters of the Kuomintang, Canton and Peking, and one does not recognize the authority of the other. A few days ago, the Peking' Kuomintang staged a' demonstra-on, which is reported to have deen attended by 1,000 men, to protest against the failure of the Canton Kuomintang to recognize the present Kuomintang govern-mont in Peking. In a word, the! vadieals of the Peking Kuomintang, who have some indirect affiliations with Soviet Russia, are fighting the radicals of the Canton Kuomintang which have a more direct affiliation with Soviet Russia. Canton is becoming too conservative for the radicals of the Peking Kuomintang. At the same time, the right and jeontre wings of the. Kuomintang seem to be seeking for some way of saving the party, but have thus far not been able to work out either programme or a leadership. They fare no further than they were a year ago when they began to plan for Tuan Chi-jui's undoing. Tt has! been suggested by many friends of jthe tight and entre Kuomintang,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.