"In addition to such grave assaults upon China's territorial integrity she has further violated our aerial sovereignty by causing her military and other aeroplanes to" make innumerable flights over different parts of China, She has acquiesced and lent support to organized smuggling by her nationals on an Unprecedented scale, causing enormous loss to China's national revenue as well as to legitimate trade of other countries. Nor did she hesitate to stoop to such unscrupulous practices as the encouragement of illicit drug traffic and the supply of arms to bandits and robber: has magnified and made use of all kinds of incidents, real or imaginary, by presenting preposterous demands upon China and also using them as pretexts for taking um-Jatoral action.
Although none of these aggressions could be tolerated by any nation in the world without endanger ing its independence and existence, China has time and again endured the intolerable, hoping all the while that Japan might realize her mistake#. But even this last ray of hope has been shattered by the incident which Japan created at Lukouchiao. without even waiting for a reply before the expiration of the time limit set in the ultimatum, started a fierce offensive against Peiping and Tientsin, centres of Chinese culture i ational trade respectively North China. Chinese troops joned in the environs of Nanyuan suffered tremendous casualties as the result: of sudden attacks by Japanese bombing aeroplanes and tanks.
Tientsin Assault "In the course of a bloody assault on Tientsin an immense number of Chinese and civilians were mercilessly killed or injured, while "public buildings, shops, dwelling houses, and educational and cultural institutions were deliberately destroyed by artillery and aerial bombardment After having.committed these atrocities the Japanese forces are how advancing toward southern Hopei and carrying the' war scourge into Charhar with fierce attacks on Nankow. Thus the Japanese have been consistently provoking hostilities and extending their war operations while at the same time making magnificent professions of their desire to effect a local settlement and to avoid further aggravation of the situation.
"While hostilities were raging in North China, the Chinese Government, solicitous of the immense commercial and other interests both foreign and Chinese concentrated in the important metropolis of Shanghai, repeatedly ordered the municipal authorities of Greater Shangia} and the peace preservation corps there to take special precautions against. the occurrence of any untoward incident. In the evening of August 9, however, a Japanese officer, accompanied by a seaman, attempted to force an entry into the Chinese military aerodrome at Hungjao, regardless of Chinese warnings and thus precipitated an incident resulting in the death of the Japanese and a Chinese sentry belonging to the Peace Preservation Corps.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.