The Washington herald., 1921-10-02
CHINA OCCUPIES
CENTER OF SCENE
FOR PARLEY HERE
Encroachments of Other
Nations Causes Rivalry
For Power.
BIG NAVIES FOLLOW
Japan and Great Britain Hold
Balance of Power by
Alliance.

interests clash there, or are in dan
ger of clashing in the distant fu-
ture, will gather in Washington
November IL to begin a discussion
of the problem in the hope of ar
riving at real and lasting measures
of peace.
The meeting, arranged at the in
vitation OF the United States to the
interested parties. has the offlcial
name of the conference on limita-
tion of armaments, but is far more
complex than the name implies.
From one viewpoint perhaps, 1t
might be called the conference on
restitution of expansion in the Pa
cific, or the conference on the ad-
justment of spheres Of interest in
China. or even, the conference for
a revision of the English-Japanese
alliance. For while the avowed aim
of the United States in calling the
convention is TO seek some means
Of. restricting armaments. particu-
larly competitive naval building,
nothing can be accomplished until
agreements are reached that will
make armaments unnecessary; that
is. until the interested powers COM
statu quo in the Far East.
The Invited Powers.
The nations invited to the con-
ference are Great Britain. France,
japan. Italy and China. With the
exception of Italy all have ISLANDS,
or possessions in the danger zone"
that is, where the sphere OF inter
est or influence Of one government,
tresspasses on the domain of anoth-
er. Belgium, Holland and Portugal
have asked permission to attend
the conference, or that part of 1t
dealing with the Far East Hol-
land has vast interests in the Dutch
East Indies, while Portugal has
some minor concessions in China
and the East. Belgium's interest
is entirely financial. however. at
trtbutable to capital invested in
China in the period prior to the
outbreak of the world war.
The interests of the United States
are largely its island possessions,
the Philippines. Hawaii, and a group
of islands lying north of the equa-
tor, about which the United States
and Japan are now negotiating for
rights to exercise mandates. The
interests of Japan are varied She
has acquired vast possessions of
territory in China, any number of
islands, has a foothOld in Siberia
and looks with di5pleasure on island
possessions of other powers so
close to her own. Great Britain and
France have mandatories over the
islands south of the equator. North
Of the equator the United States
and Japan are the sole rivals for
island possessions.
AnElo-Japnnese Alliance.
As for China proper Great Britain
and Japan largely divide interests,
with Japan holding the greater
possessions and the larger sphere
of interests. As a result of possess
sions so nearly common the Anglo
Japanese alliance was adopted be-
tween the two nations. While ii is
long, rather vague affair, suitably
camaoufaged in diplomatic parlance,
it may be bluntly interpreted to
read Japan and Great Britain bind
themselves to the protection of
each others sphere of interest to
the exclusion OF all other nations"
China. as has been the case for
generations. has no spheres Of in
terest except in so much as are Of
interest to other powers and have
been exploited by them. She will
attend the conference in Washing
ton without any particular power
TO undo anything, or even to have
anything done, as was the case at
Versailles, but she will again make
an appeal for relief. And IL is in
teresting to note that in the pro-
gram of matters to be discussed, as
submitted by Secretary of State
Hughes to the other powers, that
the question of the settlement of
China's rights occupies the most i'm
portant space.
China Is not to be represented in
the conference on limitation Of arma-
ments at all Her delegation will
be restricted to a discussion in the
affairs relating to Chinese territory.
Holland. Portugal and Belgium will
be permitted to take part in the ar
rangements concerning their inter-
ests in the Far East, but will oc-
cupy the position of countries which
asked permission to be present and
not as included in the original pro-
gram.
Russia Out of II.
Other questions involved in the
Far East are Siberia and the man
dated islands, that is the islands
formerly belonging to GERMANY or
her allies, until the Versailles
treaty awarded them to various OF
the allied powers. Since the COL
lapse of the Russian government
and the effort of the allies 70 s,,
press Bolshevism in Siberia the Jan
anese government has maintained
troops at Vladivostok and has been
making gradual inroads on what
was formerly Russian territory
As for the inundated islands. the
differences Of opinion existing tust
at this time are largely between the
United States and Japan and the
representatives Of the two govern
ments hope to have them adjusted
prior to the conference in Washing
ton.
II IL is possible to so adjust
the very complex Far East problem
so that all of the powers will be
satisfied, so that there will be no
need to fortify the numerous Is
lands as naval bases as measures
of defense, or offense, and SO thar
one nation need have no fear OF an
other, then the governments ma,
be expected to readily accept some
principal of Limitation of arma-
ments, so as to relieve the huge |