Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-03-14
ARTICLE TX.
BY UPTON CLOSE.

ar In emma and natiOnaliStic plans
TO Gust the white man flare in
our headlines; but who knows about
the similar demonstrations going on in
China, Siam. the Dutch East
Indies, the Straits Settlements and all
the deep fringe round the south shore
of Pacific Asia to the borders of india
When l arrived In Indo- China
found the French authorities forbid
ding even foreign hunting parties to
enter this closely guarded area. Why?
Fear of communist propaganda is Of
fered as the reason.
In this French colony, full of irri
dentist segments of China and with
large population of Southern Chinese
deeply affected by the victories of Can
tonese nationalism, the authorities feel
they cannot be too cautious. They
have dealt very fairly with the people,
and, as the French colonial admins
traitors entertain little race prejudice,
the social element of discomfort is not
nearly so serious a problem as it is
farther North.
But racially the 1ndo- Chinese are
closely kin to the Southern Chinese
who have produced most of the dis
turbances during the past generation
in Asia; so Indo.China will inevitably
feel the effect of the revolt and the
French government has serious wor
ries of it's own not far ahead
Sayre Among the Advisers.
What is remarkable all through
Southeastern Asia is the self-reliance
OF these countries and their determi
nation, with deceptive peacefulneSs, to
do without the white man.. This is
happening in Siam, where some 20
foreign advisers" all Of whom have
given fundamental services to the
country, are being pensioned off and
sent home this year. They will not
be replaced, except by Siamese adj
ministrators Francis b. Sayre. SON
in-law of President Wilson, is the
biggest" man in the group.
There is no i'll feeling about it, But
Siam, country as large as France,
with an efficient railway system run
by SiameSe graduate of Oxford, with
an excellent standing army and the
largest air force in Asia, feels thor
oughly self-reliant. Ever since 1921.
for instance, American citizens In
Siam have been under Siamese laws,
with the right reServed-very little
exercised--to revoke cases back into
consular 5urisdiction. This is the most
reasonable of all the solutions of the
extraordinarily problem, but 1t took
a good deal of calm, determined pres
sure on the part of the SiameSe to get
us to adopt it-and unfortunately
things have now gone too far to use
1t to stem the tide of China's crisis.
Uprising i'm Dutch Possessions.
There have been threats of COM
munist risings nIndo-China, but they
have actually occurred in the Dutch
East indies, and when / visited SUI
matra l found the Dutch officials still
seriously apprehensive of the recur-
renee of outbreaks which came on un-
expectedly and were put down with
much difficulty last year.
In the great island of Java, the
same size as Cuba, but with 10 times
the population, the Dutch administra-
tors have made lasting economic i'm
provements in the status of the
Javans, but over in Sumatra a much
racial strain, has risen more and more
of late years in the big
towns and on the plantations.
/ found the Dutch East Indies not
only the recipients of communist prop
uganda from home-the secretary of
the third International was for sew
eral years an American-educated Hol-
lander, S. j. Rutgers--but the partici-
pants on their own behalf of an Ash
4 Lie ICiiCCLCd lI0Ill Ibuoold
the large Chinese colonies
which have been for years the back
bone of the nationalist movement in
China.
Then, at the tip of the Federated
Malay States, is the center OF British
prestige in this area and the great
naval base to-be at Singapore. 1t was
no surprise to find that as my steamer
passed out among the islands in which
this base is to be constructed the order
went out from the ships officers, mo
photographs"
British Rubber Plans Menaced.
Back among the Malay States them
selves, scene of the great rubber In
dustry which Britain relied upon to
pay the greater part of her debt to the
United States, another large Chinese
community, perhaps. the wealthiest
anywhere in the world, exercises an
economic power wholly disproportion.
ate to it's numbers.
This Chinese element was perma-
nent factor in the stability of British
control few years back, but the chal-
lenge from Canton against british
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