As was expected Dr. Wellington Koo, Chima's delegate to the League of Nations, has sent to the Secretary General a communication requesting that the Council give immediate effect to Article XVII of the Covenant. This Article provides that in the case of a dispute between a member of the League and a nation which is not—as is now the case of Japan,—the non-member shall be invited to accept the obligations of membership of the League for the purpose of such dispute, upon conditions which the Council may deem just. If such an invitation is accepted the Council may then proceed to deal with the matter as if the issue were one between members only. If a State so invited shall refuse, and shall resort to war against the member State, the provisions of Article XVI shall be applicable against it. That Article calls for the enforcement of sanctions, the recommendation by the Council to member States of what effective military, naval or air force members of the League shall severally contribute to the armed forces to be used to protect the covenants of the League, the mutual support of each other in the financial and economic measures which are taken under the Article to minimize the loss and inconvenience resulting from these measures, and mutual support in resisting any special measures aimed at one of their number by the covenant breaking State, and other provisions including the passage of forces through member state territory. The chief objects which the Chinese delegation has in mind are, of course, the application of sanctions against Japan, and the acquisition of the financial and economic assistance for which the Article provides, and it is apparent that the Chinese Note is framed to deal with the situation which has arisen since Japan has ceased to be a member of the League. It must be admitted at the very outset that the action which China has taken is, in view of the provisions of the Covenant, a perfectly logical one, and one which she was entitled by reason of her membership to take. Whether, however, it will be effective is entirely another question, and on the face of existing conditions it may be held to be very unlikely.
The case of the Abyssinian dispute between the League of Nations and Italy, when it was ought to apply sanctions, showed that in the reluctance of member States to accept their responsibilities under this Article of the Covenant was to be found the main weakness of the League. It was impossible to secure complete unanimity amongst member States, and, because of that fact, those sanctions which it was sought to impose completely failed. With the United States, Germany and Italy outside the League of Nations it is impossible to see how it can be hoped for one moment that a Council decision to impose sanctions would be worth anything more than the breath it was uttered in. Sanctions to be effective must be absolute and complete, and if in the encirclement it is sought to create there are such wide breaches as the abstention of three such important countries would of necessity create, then sanctions cannot succeed. No responsible body of statesmen in this day and age would dream of passing resolutions which are patently impossible of successful execution, and it is to be expected that the Council will seek to delay coming to any decision on this point. The question of the financial and economic assistance which is also envisaged in the Article must have a considerable appeal to the Chinese govern ment. The failure to persuade Great Britain to make it a loan, though Mr. Neville Chamberlain did not preclude other forms of assistance, which were under consideration, being given, naturally came as a great disappointment to China. In what other forms assistance might -be given, except in the extension of credits for the purchase of munitions, it is at present difficult to see, and it is by no means unlikely that the long sighted view of refraining from lending money even in this form until some time when a victorious China might be able to put it to a more productive use, is not, after all, the wisest way of looking at the matter. China's credit abroad is not inexhaustible, and if the present schemes of resistance to the Japanese invasion prove correct, then the real need for China is not money with which to prosecute present resistance, but funds which will be needed for the vast amount of rehabilitation which will have toj be undertaken.
It is no fault of the Chinese delegation that the presentation of this latest communication is badly timed. That arose from circumstances over. which neither China, nor the States involved as members of the League have had any control. The backbone of the League, which is now only Great Britain and France, is faced with a crisis in Europe in which their very existence may become involved. There is a grave possibility that, if not in the immediate future, at some time not very far ahead, they may be called upon to use all their strength for the maintenance of some sort of equilibrium in Europe. Preoccupations of so tragic an import must receive first attention, and it is just as well that this fact should be recognized. There can be no discipation of strength, and it is inevitable that for the time being at any rate all the resources of those two countries will be confined in that area whence may come the gravest threat to the peace of the whole world. It is realized that this will not prove pleasant reading to the Chinese and the large number of foreigners who sympathize with them in their grave trials. It is indeed no pleasure to have to write in such a strain, but this journal would be failing of its duty if it did not point out these factors which must operate against any chance of China's demands at Geneva being met, at any rate for the present. That mistakes were made a few years ago which might have saved China all this present suffering is only too plain. Just as clear is it that heavy responsibility rests upon those who failed to follow a policy which might have saved the world from much of the trouble which now confronts it, but that will in no way gloze over the unpleasant reality that this is not the time when the two European bulwarks of democracy should be persuaded to disperse their strength in an endeavour to meet every call upon them. In such g/ituation which seems almost without comfort it must be remembered that the ultimate settlement is not yet, and the time will dpme when the world will be able to return to the work of readjustment. It is then that there is the probability that China will receive that justice which up to now has been denied her, Shooting at Hungjao Sportsmen who go shooting in the Hungjao area these days do so not only at their own risk bui at the risk of residents in the neighbourhood. There are still many guerillas, bandits, and Japanese troops about, and the sound of firing is as likely as not to star one^or other of them off, to the danger of everybody concerned. During the week-end the activities of sportsmen gave rise to rumours that another guerilla attack had been launched. Residents in Hungiao were considerably inconvenienced, and an alarm was occasioned for which there was no cause whatever. Apart from the fact that sportsmen who go shooting in the area run considerable danger of reprisals on themselves, they are also likely to fall foul of the Japanese authorities who have sensibly banned the taking of firearms into the neighbourhood. Guns found by them are likely to be confiscated, and their bearers likely to find themselves the centre of another of those unpleasant "incidents" which everyone is so anxious to avoid. And the needless provocation of such incidents cannot be too strongly condemned.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.