Eleven local foreign associations: have shown unanimity in urging for ithe retention and restoration of! treaty rights and. privileges denied them. These foreign bodies have made it perfectly clear in definite statements as to what they consider [breaches and infringements of their; rights, They telegraphed their nine Immediate objectives ranging from matters municipal to the extraterritorial status.
'The most serious feature of the present situation from the foreign businessman's point of view is the closure, to foreign. shipping, of the Yangtze River, with no definite. dat of its reopening' In prospect. The "North-China Daily News" has given, fu-ample detail and. with names of Japanese vessels "particulars of the irade that Is being conducted along tiver ports. The Japanese aver" that military "necessity is holding. back: their hand fom reopening the river.
Facts do not bear out, however, this objection, The oficial obduracy seems to have some cogent. reasons for its own, and into which one may possibly conjecture a purpose pressed, as t-were, in such words, fsddressed to Third Powers, as: "We relieve you are giving assistance the Chiang. regime to prolong. the fife-andedeath struggle against us. As Jong a8 you continue 0. do so and thus make matters more dificult for us, we feel justified In defending out cause punitively by culling off your {trading benefits ju' the most important territory of Yangtze.
Confirmation of this hypothesis is to be had from Domei News Agency's Tokyo cable of November 20, reporting that the Japanese Vice-Minister War, Lieut-Gen. Hideki, made certain allegations as regards foreign assistance.to the regime of Gen. Chiang Kai-shek. would appear unsound for the JJapanese authorities to act on a be-het alone, when, instead, they should have absolute proof. At the same time, actual evidence as seen in the British and American refusal to give loans {o China, despite her importunily, shows that these powers have [been meticulously careful in remain jing neutral, ona matter that is Jnevertheless so vital to China in her struggle of resistance. As regards the acquirement of munitions, Japan Inerself has had amples access to foreign supplies and international understanding has yet had nothing to) say against It.
Here we have a situation where one party, Japan, acts on a belief, as against the other party, Third Power interests, which support their protest
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.