June 4.
Exploitation of a national emergency to obtain freedom of manoeuvre in domestic politics is not peculiar to China. It does not acquire respectability on that account, It assumes indeed a dangerous cynicism when it is attempted in a moment of crisis such as that now developing in this country. Japanese reports of impending warfare in the South are vigorously denied, but the manifesto attributed to the South Western Political Council and the general tension apparent in the relations between Canton, and Nanking do not augur well for the acceptance of that sane policy which General Chang Chun out-ined in his statesmanlike speech ast week. If the National Government, in pursuance of that policy, set its face against resort' to extreme measures in dealing with the serious encroach ments of Japanese authority in the North, it must be accounted wise {in its generation, Nor can seriously imagined that the idea of waging war with Japan would have the practical support of those who airily discuss it in telegrams. At a time when the efforts of the Government and the people should be concentrated on coming to a satisfactory understanding with Japan, it is tragic to find China's political leaders embarrassed with the Intractability of their own. differences of opinion. How can the Government discharge its, respon~ sibility to the people if this disunion hampers its actions? It is not suffi-dent to invoke sympathy for the victim of unwarrantable aggression when the conditions which en-bby those who have it in their power to consolidate their forces and eliminate discord. Personal. cusies, regional prejudices and political perversity should sedulously abandoned when the: national cause is threatened from without, The preservation of the particularist spirit at such a time isa crime—it is more: a crowning folly, The Japanese reports from Canton may be highly coloured) but they will have rendered a real service if they bring forcibly to public notice the dangers likely to accrue to China from her own internal weaknesses.
'Underlying the, whole situation is a tragic cultivation of hatred. Japanese spokesmen have been at fault in permitting themselves to make provocative utterances, secure in their reliance on the' armed argument, They too may be invited to look ahead and consider the ultimate effect of creating a wall of hatred between China and Japan, Similarly, in deprecating talk of armed resistance to Japanese demands it is appropriate from General Chang Chun's statement to derive encouragement for a constructive policy of Sino-Japanese friendship. To that end inflammatory appeals to extreme nationalism with the object of stirring up hatred against Japan are to be deplored. The two countries are mutually interdependent—the idea found support from Mr. ¥. Suma albeit in-a most unhappy mood—and their geographical proximity, cultural ties and economic requirements point inevitably to the need for cultivating workable relationships. It is true that Japanese methods have not appeared to facl~ lirate attention to this need, but General Chang Chun's plea may, in due course, bear fruit if wiser counsels obtain the ascendancy in Tokyo, The Government of China has, as General Chang Chun's speech. showed, striven to promote a policy of conciliation with the object of bringing the better mind of Japan to the fore. It should persevere in that endeavour, however difficult and invidious the attendant conditions. Nothing! could aggravate China's plight more dangerously than the adoption of the attitude of being willing to wound but afraid to strike.
The duty of China's statesmen at this moment is to look to the future, to safeguard the rising generation which should not be imbued with hatred of Japan but, rather encouraged {o see in Japan 'a neighbour whose difficulties have to be. sympathetically studied and whose ce-operation—despite the unsatisfactory record of the immediate past—is worth having. 'This policy has the practical merit of ridding China of any ground for self-reproach. It may be pursued, side by side with the consolidation of national unity. The process may be difficult to perfect in the face of the rebuffs offered by'
Japanese militarists, but arrogance battens on pinpricks and is liable to be discomfitted by unruffled and persistent good temper. The rela~ tions which General Chang Chun seeks to establish with Japan are scoffed at by certain. Japanese spokesmen at the moment. That altitude can hardly be adopted by: the more responsible exponents of Japanese policy. It may be argued that the truculence which finds so frequent an expression in Japanese actions in China is really born of fear, That fear cannot be allayed by progressive encroachment on China's soil. So in the long run Japan will be bound to adopt the formula put forward in Nanking and seek, the friendship of China. on terms of mutual respect. It. would be unfortunate if that solu~ tion of the two countries' differences. were retarded by a shortsighted cultivation of the arid gospel of hatred—the bane of the world' peace to-day. China, no less than Japan, should resolutely abjure suspicion and mistrust. The pres~ ent impasse offers nothing but misery and disillusionment to those who refuse to extricate themselves! from its deadly grip.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.