But however eager may have been the popular response to such an approach, Chinese officialdom was wary. Russian friendship for, China was traditionally expensive, Russian assistance in preventing Japan from taking the Liaotung Peninsula had well-nigh east China the whole of Manchuria, Rus affection. was usually followed by heavy bill for expenses, It would well, before" accepting Ruocia's seemingly generous offer, to make sure what Russia would expect in. return this time, Besides, was it necessary to pay anything to secure these proffered ad-Grecedent for. dealing with the outages? Might it not sct a bad
other nations? Was not China entitled to all of these things as matter of right? 'Thus thinking, Chinese officialdom fell back upon its old. tactics of procrastination, Recognition of the' Soviet government wan withheld and gue by one the proffered gifts of Russia were taken over as of right. Territorial concessions were abolished; the Boxer indemnity was terminated; extraterritoriality for Russians, wag, cancelled. All. this without com pensation of any kind to the Union of Soviet Socialist, Republics, While Soviet diplomacy was thus making little headway at Peking, another influence had been furthering Russian ends. American eentiment did not favour the Bolshevist regime, which it was convinced was but a passing phase of the Revolue tion and would some day be superseded by some other and different Russia, For this nebubk ous Russia that was to come the constituted itself a trustee; for this it tured the strength of Ha diplomacy against the imperial ism of Japan on the Asian maine Jand. The Washington Conference was called, The demand of Russians "for participation was ignored, but they could find little to complain of in the results. Their interests were amply safeguarded and they reaped the bene-its. Within " your they were back at the mouth of the Amur, back in Vladivostok, and the territory of the Far Eastern Republic was wholly absorbed by Soviet, Russia. Not, a.foot of Russian soil remain" Jed in Japanese hands except the northern half of Sakhalin, The Chinese Eastern Railway One thing China in the reascertion of her rights had dared not do. Even the Powers at the Washington Conference had preferred not to tackle it, That was to interfere with the status of the Chinese Eastern Railway. To tame per with that was to awaken old animosities and latent ambitions which it was the hope of the Cone ference to Jay. for all time. But Russia—even Soviet Russia—never, for a moment lost sight of it nor allowed it to be forgotten. She had long since defined more clearly, what she had meant by caying that the railway wag to: be delivered to China without "compensation. She id not mean that "Russia's vital interest in this line, as an integral portion of the Trans-Siberian Railway," was to be divegarded. Per= sistently she pressed for an agree ment with China' on this matter. At last came a Chinese Foreign: Minister, V. K. Wellington Koo, who could be' persuaded to seo things as she did On May '81, 1924," China and ' Russia' entered' once' more into treaty" relutfons. Russia bad flattered Chinese
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.