Evening star., 1932-02-15
SHOWDOWN
DEMAND Of CHINA.
stockholders" Entitled to
Know Where Council Stands,
Says Yen.
BY FREDERIC WILLIAM VILE.

BY Gable to The Star.
GENEVA, February 5-"Stockhold-
ers in the League of Nations have the
right to know whether it is time to wind
up the business or whether il is still a
going concern" w. w. Yen, leader of
the Chinese delegation to Geneva. de-
clared today in a special interview for
The Star.
The Oriental statesman, who for the
time being becomes the central figure
in the Disarmament Conference, thus
explains his determination to force q
meeting of the League Assembly for the
purpose of discussing Japan's aggres-
sion in China. Yen is unwilling to
waste any more time seeking justice for
China at the hands of the League
Council.
He insists upon a showdown before
the Assembly. Now the only question
is when meeting Of the Assembly will
be called. The Council will sit again
tomorrow, but no matter what 1t de-
cides, sooner or later the Assembly must
convene at the request of China as a
party to the dispute. Yen thinks a
meeting CT the Assembly midst the Dis
armament Conference not only logical,
but necessary, because disarmament Is
impossible while guns are barking in
the Far East.
All World Interested.
The situation in China" said Yen,
has ceased TO be purely question af-
fecting my unhappy people Events
have converged into question wherein
the world at large is interested. Every
member of the League of Nations, every
sgnatory to the Kellogg anti-war pact,
has been defied and f1outed by the jap
anese action in Manchuria and Shang-
hal.
Since last September stockholders
in the corporation known as the
League of Nations have permitted their
board of directors to deal with the
Far Eastern crisis. To date all the
directors have done is to pass resolu-
tions, appoint commissions and discuss
/, procedure.
Meanwhile more and more Japenese
ships occupy Chinese waters, more and
more and more japanese guns are
shooting our inoffensive people.
Patience Exhausted.
THAT is why our patience Is eX-
fausted and why We have decided to
invoke our rights under the League
covenant to call the Assembly without
waiting any longer for the statesmen
to Quibble their way through proceed
ural barbed wire China doesn't stand
! alone in demanding meeting OF the
Assembly Other small nations realize
the hour has arrived to find whether
the League is something or nothing.
IF it is nothing-if it is unable to
prevent destruction Of the worlds
laboriously constructed peace machin-
1i~t, tr.61 n
establish the supremacy of might over
right This is basic point.
"China's plight is grave. But the
plight in which Japan has plunged the
rest of the world is graver."
What has become of the Anglo
American Joint protest over the Shang
hal AFFAIR."" Yen was asked.
That's mystery" he replied
When British Minister Thomas read
his impressive statement at the Council
meeting fortnight ago. the roar of
the British lion was heard around the
world But for some unaccountable
reason the roar died down to purr.
Assembly Only Hope.
you in America must know better
than / why the eagle ceased to scream,
too I don't venture to criticize the ap-
parent collapse Of Anglo-American ac-
ton. but may be permitted to say. it
is ineXplicable.
Our principal hope now lies in the
Assembly II it fails us, China has no
alternative. as I told the Disarmament
Conference Saturday. but to reluctantly
devote all her energies herceforward
to building up her national defense
strong enough to assure China that
protection against external aggression
which covenants and pacts have proved
incapable of vouchsafing us"
The League Councils reluctance to
convene the Assembly under conditions
adduced by China is understood to be
due primary to the fact it would
create a precedent. The Council also
is under the spell of Japans thinly
guised threat to leave the League if
the Assembly puts her on the spot