General Review of Situation: Nanking Preoccupicd with Japah and Communism The following are excerpts from the annual: report of the China Ase sociation presented at the annual general meeting held in London on April "The Interest of political events dur~ ing the past year centred in two episoiles—the rebellion In the South: West and the detention of Chiang. Kai-shek In Shensi—and in relations with Japan, 'The episodes are not classifiable as domestic events pure and simple. Anti-japanese sently ment played a part in both of them. While' bearing this interaction in, mind, however, it is permissible to divide their domestic from their foreign implications and to deal with each separately. This Involves some departure from' chronological" order but makes retrospect clearer, Troop movements made by the South-West leaders, Generals Pai Chung-hsi, Li Tsung-Jen and" Chen Chistang in June, were declared to be antisJapanese and were preceded by the issue of a manifesto urging the Central Government to declare. war on Japan, These men were actuated parily, however, by personal hostility Chiang Kat-shek due to a variety of causes, some dating back to the time when Chiang was still establish~ ing his power, some being ancial, OF the Ialter, in. Kwangs's ease, one was loss. of revenue from transit taxes levied upon shipments of semlraw opium previously transported through the province from: Kweichow and Yunnan, but deflected after the eslablishiment of Nanking's control over Kweichow early in 1038 to Har ow, Another, In Kwangtung's case, was reluclanes {9 hand over to the control of the Central Government {the 100,000,000 silver dollars withdrawn from elteulation in, conformity with the national financial policy. For some time there appeared' to be considerable likelihood of civil war. the. presence of Central minent troops in southern Fur kien, their rapid concentration in Hunan, the moral' force of public opinion, combined with clever nexotiation, prevented hostilities from exceeding a minor skirmish or two. Steps were forthwith taken to re organize the administration Kwanglung and Kwangst and to bring them within the sphere of the mor Information about. this re-organiza~ ion is. not plentiful, Between this time and the second episode Fererred to above (he retention of Chiang Kashek near Slanta) domestic polities were uneventful, On October 10. there were colebra-Hons throughout the country of the 28th anniversary of the foundation of the Republic, the programme inlucling. such different, yeu consonant, events ax the official opening of the Cunton-Tankoye hallway, and the 1ay= ing of the foundation stone of the new building of the Bank of China -Shanghal, "China's election Gelober Mo ie nor the League of Nations though a minor, part the enthusiasm that) accompanied nese celebrations. 'Their fervour, however, In so far as it was republic un, requires discounting In view of the' deelxion taken on October 15. to postpone the convention of necossita the election of provin iF delegates, and was rendered the more significant by the demonstrations which marked the celebration on October 31 of Kalsshek's birthday. when the General was presented with 85 fight-aeroplanes. The Assembly ig to meetin November" this year, but whether China will then advance to 2 more democratic form of xovernent remains to be seen, Canton and Hongkong 'To the congratulatory period just sketched belong events of importance in the relations of Canton and Hong-Kong What was described by Reuter a "an occasion unique in the history South China' occurred on Septe ber 18, when Chiang Kal-shake visited Shameen to meet the Governor of Mongkong, Sir Andrew Caldecott, at a dinner "given by the Consul ral, Me, Herbert Phillips. Six drow's visit to Canton lasted tive during which time hie was dat luncheon by Gen. Huang Mou-sang, the new Governor, who expressed the hope that fulure rela tions between Hongkong and Canto would be marked by closer eo-operation. On November 4 Sir Andrew's visit was returned, Get and his wite, Foreign Commis:
ner for Kwangting and Kwangsi. and by Col. Lee Fong, Secretary of the Municipaliiy- A full report ut the speeches made on the occasion will, be found on page 222 of the "North China Herald" of November 31, It ig hoped that, as a result of these Visits, questions outstanding between the Colony and Canton will be settled satisfactorily, and it is fitting that an wpreeiative note should be recorded of the excellent work done by Mr. Herbert Phillips, the Consul-Genera at_Canton.
Throughout this period relations between" China and Japan were strained. Tt was partly that fact that made so serious the sudden over clouding of domestic sries occasioned by the detention of Chiang Kai-shek by Chang Hsueh-liang at Sianfu from December 12 to 25. The full signi cance of this episode. though much has been written about it, is still far from clear. Chang Hsuchcllang gave out that his object in detaining the Generalissimo was the formation of new Government to declare wat on the Japanese. Behind this reason, however, is said to have been Chiang' decision to" remove the Young Marshal from his post of commander of the Anti-Communist forces the North-West. At" all. events, Gen, Chiang Ting-wen's arrival Sianfu to take over the command of the "bandit suppression troops" appears to have been the signal for the revolt. Sian newspapers show that the incident coincided with the suppression of a students' demonstra ton, when the police opened fire castilties occurred, the occasion of the demonstration being a demand for more positive action in resisting the Invasion of Sulylan.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.