The report that General Kenji Doihara has been sent back to active service, and that Lieut.-General Seiichi Kita has been appointed head of the Japanese liaison agency in North China, if correct, is one of the most outstanding developments in the China situation of recent months. It is significant also as throwing a clear light upon the recent attempts to persuade General Wu Pei-fu to emerge from his retirement and assume the role of Pacification Commissioner in North China, for the purpose of restoring law and order, and enabling the edicts of the provisional government in Peiping to run over a larger area than they do at present. It will be remembered that, on several occasions during the past few months, reports have been issued to the effect that General Wu was yielding to Japanese pressure to throw in his lot with those other Chinese who were prepared to set up some sort of government under the Japanese sgis. Those reports were offset by statements attributed to General Wu which suggested that, even if he were considering the Japanese suggestions, he had not yet arrived at a decision to acquiesce in the Japanese desire. There was nothing in the nature of a definite denial at any time, though from the accounts which were published from time to time the demands which the General made were such that the Japanese could not possibly grant The matter thus hung fire without a decisive announcement being made by either side! and the general impression was created that f the Japanese had not yet succeeded in enticing the General into their fold, they were not without hopes of eventually doing melee which o. The replacement of Gen, Doihara by Lieut.-General Kita is to be taken as an indication that Gen. Doihara's latest intrigue has failed, and despite the remarkable number of successes that officer had obtained during the last decade, he is being removed to make room for someone who may prOVe any other law more successful in this instance To the failure to bring General Wu into the fold must be added that of the|Norih-China Daily News" on the subject.
ut initiated by Mr. Wang Ching:
withdrawal from General t was hoped would vas d brin bring about exact a division of the support which the Generalis-no at present commands, and accelerate that peace which the Japanese must by now desire as much as the Chinese themselves Both movements have up to now been unproductive of results, and it is reported that other plans are now being devised in the carrying out of which Gen. Doihara will have no part. The many successful intrigues which Gen. Deihara has conducted since 1922, in which he secured Japanese domination of North Chi naturally increased Chinese hatred for him, and to a certain degree this present reve which he has suffered may be attributed to the successes he attained. If ever a man were the victim of his own undoubted ability that man must be Gen. Doihara. It is apparently believed in Tokyo, or at any rate by those of the ranking army officers and the Japanese Government who have rallied to his support, that General Kita has a better chance of conciliating the Chinese and securing that ce-operation which the Japanese forces in China hope to obtain. In any event he will commence his new work without suffering, from those disadvantages which his predecesser had accumulated for himself. For some time he has been actively engaged in promoting the "provisional government" of North China, and there has been nothing reported to indicate that he is on anything but good terms with the persons with whom he will in the future have to deal. Whether he will attempt again to bring General Wu Pei-fu into line remains to be seen. The probabilities seem to be that at any rate for the time being he will leave that astute Chinese leader to his own resources, for, unless the latter changes his ideas radically on the concessions he requires from the Japanese before he assists them, there is very little likelihood of his ever playing the role which the Japanese have selected for him.
That he has a difficult task before him is apparent to all who observe developments in China with any degree of interest. Up to the present the Japanese have signally failed to induce any really imposing Chinese figure, one which commands the respect: of a large section of the people, to come forward to their assistance. Even Mr. Wang Ching-wei, who has so definitely stated his opposition to General Chiang Kai-shek's policy, and issued such impressive appeals for peace between the two countries, has not yet taken the step of actually coming out into the open, and serving the cause of Japan. That would in all probability earn for him the hatred of an overwhelming proportion of his fellow nationals and deprive him of much of the respect which even now he commands, for it is one thing to differ from the policy of a government, and something entirely more censurable to come out into the open and actively work for its enemies. For these reasons it may be safely said that Lieut-General Kita has no easy task in front of him, certainly no easier than the one in connection with which his predecessor has failed. It may be that Gen. Doihara has already explored the limits of Chinese complacency in the areas which the Japanese have overrun, and that he will find himself confronted with that imperturbable passivity of which the Chinese are past masters. It must always be remembered that the Chinese have never looked for an early decision of this China Incident, There is very little indeed to show that earlier determinations have in any way been modified, and it may very well prove to be the case that the very successes which Gen. Doihara has secured in the past may leave his successor with a remarkably bad wicket to play on. There is such a thing as being too successful and it still remains for history to show whether the fate of the Japanese "Lawrence" is not in fact a precursor of the ultimate fate of his country in this military adventure into China which is by no means unembarrassing to it.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.