Evening star., 1921-11-03
CHINA BIG PROBLEM
FOR ARMS MEETING
Has Long Been Ground for
Dispute Common to Six
Nations.
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.

(In this. the fourth of series OF highly
interesting articles giving the reader
background of information the coming
armament conference. Mr.. Lawrence aut-
lines why China is an International
probem.D
China has always been a problem
common to the six great powers
Great Britain, United States. Ger
many, Japan, Russia and France.
Time and again efforts have been
made to float six-power loans or five
power loans among banking groups
of all the major countries in an ef-
fort to help put China ~un her feet.
Little by little the nations of the
world have been encroaching on her
domain. Her undeveloped resources
have been tempting to the alert busi-
ness men of other countries.
Concessions have been obtained in
all sorts of ways from the helpless
Chinese government which in recent
generations has really had no strong
central government, but has moved
along with curious indifference as
local governments and provincial au-
immense empire.
Railroads Vital Issue.
The possession Of railways means a
great deal to the nation which owns
and operates them in China. 1t in
sures access to the mines of the in
terror for the bringing out of valuable
freights. British. American and Ger
man capitalists have been content to
develop railway enterprises without as
suming to obtain political control for
their respective governments of any
territory in China. The much talked
of province of Shantung with it's i'm
menSe territory was never ceded to
Japan at the Paris peace conference.
but the port which is practically the
door to Shantung province, was given
Japan. as well as jurisdiction over
the railway to the interior. including
a thirty mile strip on each side of
had that very right and Japan was
asking only for that which Germany
had forfeited through her defeat in
the war. Japan was asking for those
rights as her reward for ousting the
Germans from Kiaehow and the far
east.
But that brought the rub. Would the
Japanese be content to operate as the
Germans had? Indeed, the Germans
entered into working agreements
with British and other European
business men in the far east. 1t was
purely a commercial. not a political,
proposition. Would the japanese
keep it commercial or use it to pene-
trate China politically and get a hold
on the administrative independence
of China?
Anti-Japanese Sentiment.
The Chinese thought so. They
openly said so. That's the basis for
their opposition to Japan's acquisi-
ton of one inch more of a foothold
in China. It's a question of faith. of
trust or suspicion. TES Japanese pro-
test that they never break their word;
that they have only disinterested mo-
tives and seek merely place for
commercial expansion for their al
ready overpopulated country. But
the Chinese will not listen. Sharing
the Chinese suspicious are practically
business interests in China. They are
violently anti-Japanese. They ex-
pect their respective governments to
use their moral and physical power
to keep the japanese from over
stepping the bounds of commercial
necessity. They insist that the open
door shall mean an open door and no
who will keep the "open door"
open? Who will enforce the under
standing The British government
knows it cannot do it alone. Will
the United States help? That's why
the British are not anxious to an
nounce at this time what they will
do with the Anglo-Japanese alliance.
One school of thought insists that the
alliance be abrogated, because Of the
stimulus it gives the Japanese polit-
ically and commercially, but another
school of thought in the British gov
ernment wants to know first whether
the moral and physical help of the
United States can be counted upon If
the alliance is given up. In other
words, it is contended by the latter
group Of statesmen that the Anglo
Japanese alliance gives the British
government q certain intimacy with
the Japanese government which.
makes it possible to hold Japan back
gently, but firmly. and exercises quiet
" an influence which might never be
publicly acknowledged or needed II
the alliance were broken, and if1
Japaff felt that she must eventually
seek the hand Of reconstructed Ger
many or resuscitated Russia to assist
in fulfilling her ambitions in the far
east.
U. o. Meve Awaited.
Does America stand ready to enter
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