Evening star., 1932-02-07

| ing there Tor the laSt TWO weeks, are
| outlined in a statement Of the Jap
aneSe government issued here by the
| Japanese embassy last night.
In its statement the Japanes govern
ment lists in chronological order the
| incidents which have led up to the
present fighting in the Chinese city and
outlines the purposes underlying the
action of Japanese forces in the theater
! of operations. The text of the state
ment follows:
1T is the immutable policy of the
! Japanese government to insure by al
means in their power tranquility in the
/ Far East and to contribute to thc
peaceful progress Of the world. I'm
/ fortunately, in late years, the interna
| discord and unsettled political condi-
tionS prevailing in China, coupled with
rampant anti-foreign agitation, have
given cause for serious concern to al
! other powers. especially Japan, which
| because of her geographical proximity
| and vast interests there which are in
! Volved. has been made to suffer in far
| greater degree than any other. While
/ the japanese government, in their So
! liCltude for neighbOrly amity and inter-
national good understanding, have
eXerted every effort to maintain con-
/ Ciliatory attitude, China, taking advan-
! tage of our moderation. has reSorted to
frequent infringementS of our rights
and interests, to various acts of Vio-
lence toward japanese residents. and to
lntenSltylng vicious anti japanese
movement, which Is without parallel
elsewhere, as it is under the direct or
indirect guidance of the Nationalist
party which is identified with the Ma
tlonalist government itself.
Like Other Outrages.
%. 1t is under these circumstances
that the Shanghai incident has broken
| out. 1t is similar to numerous out
RACES and insults that had previously
been perpetrated at Tsingtao FoochoW,
| Canton, Annoy and elsewhere in that
they are all characterized by Chinese
contempt for Japan and japanese and
by acts of physical violence. The
Shanghai incident only happened to be
most fragrant case. On the 9th Of
Minkuo Daily News published an article
insulting the honor of our imperial
house. Shortly afterward on the
18th, a party of japanese priests and
their companions of five persons in
all were the subjects of an unproyoked
attack by Chinese deSperadoes. AS a
result, three of the victims were Sc
verely wounded and one was killed.
The shock of these events was suff1-
cient to explode the long pent-up in
dignation felt by the Japanese residents
in Shanghai, who had suffered for
many years past and had exercised
utmost restraint in the face Of increaS-
ing Chinese atrocities and affronts
"(3D Noting the extreme gravity of
the situation, the japanese consul gen.
nf-n IL,
ernment and in order to do all that
was possible to prevent. by local Solu-
ton, any aggraVation of the case, pre-
Sented the mayor of Shanghai on jan
uary 81 a set of four demands, in
cluding one for the dissolution of anti
japanese societies At 3 o'clock on
the afternoon of January % the may
or'S reply, acCeding to the above de-
mandS. was received. The japanese
authorities, hoping that the tension
might then relax, decided to wait and
watch the performance of their promise
on the part of the Chinese However,
soldiers belonging to the 18th army.
then concentrated in the vicinity of
Shanghai, began, for reasons connected
with internal politics, to display signs
of recalcitrance toward the Nanking
authorities, and appeared to be making
mayors acceptance of our terms. thus
creating a new source of danger.
Source of Danger.
In the meantime, Chinese soldiers in
civilian costume and various !awless
clements had stolen into the Interna-
tional Settlement, creating a source of
danger to the quarter in The vicinity
Of the municipal Offices Many alarm
ing rumOrS were in circulation and resi-
dents were plunged into an agony of
terror, the police of the Chapel district
having take f'oht. ThereuDon on the
28th at O'Clock the authorities Of
the settlement proclaimed a state
of siege and armed forces of the
powers were ordered out to duty in
accordance with plan that had been
previously agreed upon. 1t was when
japanese marines were proceeding TO
their assigned sector in Chapel that th.e
Chinese opened fire upon them, pre-
cipitating a conflict between the Chi
nase and japanese armed forces, Of
which the present situation is the out
come.
"C4) AS is clear from what has been
said, the incident Of the Chinese as
Sault upon japanese priests and the in
cident of the armed Sino-Japanese con-
flict were entirely separate affairs.
With regard to the armed collision, as
it was entirely contrary to every in
tention of ours, and as the British and
American COnSulS general offered the
tender of their good Offices. the Jap
anese authorities sought to effect a
cessation of hoStilitieS. and, in fact
succeeded on the 29th in arriving at an
agreement for a truce. But on the fol-
lowing day the Chinese, in contraven-
ton of their pledge, opened fire once
more. At conference summoned on
the 3lst it was agreed that the op-
posing forces should cease from all
hostile action during the progress Of
negotiations for the establishment of
a neutral zone. However, the Chinese,
resuming their offensive, are continu-
ing concentration of their troops in the
neighborhood of Shanghai. So far the
japanese Navy, desiring, in view of the
international character of Shanghai,
not to aggravate the situation. has re-
Trained from taking any drastic action,
while the Chinese, spreading news of
japanese defeats, are manfesting even
greater vehemence in their actions
Lack of Assurance.
5. In the existing state of affairs in
China uncontrolled and in view of his
torical precedents in such cases, we can
have no assurance as to the possible
behavior of vast armies congregated in
the Shanghai area, should unScrupulouS
the conference sessions should be open
and held amid complete publicity"
1t also called upon the American dele
cation Ito take leading part in the
conference" and to accept any pro-
posal that may lead to concrete re-