Evening star., 1933-01-04
SERIOUS CONFLICT
FEARED IN 0FF|NG
international Interests at
Peiping and Tientsin Men
ace Situation.
Continued From First Page,

Continued From First Page.)
rights of seniority, while In Peiping the
senior commanding ofi1cer Is an Anleri-
can colonel.
1t is easily realized that In case
the Japanese forces attack from outside
these Chinese cities, the japanese troops
garr.soned there will not remain neu-s
tral, but will join in the fight by taking
the Chinese from the rear. 1t Is hardly
conceivable that the Japanese troops In
Peiping would obey the orders OF the
senior officer, the American colonel.
and preserve q neutral attitude.
On the ether hand, In towns such as
Peiping and Tientsin 1t will be more
easy to have the international force
drawn into a conflict. becau-e, IN Ten
tsin especially, the area is less clearly
divided than vas the case in Shanghai
Protected from Sea.
The Chinese forces in the whole area
are also much more important than
they were in Shanghai and they have
much more freedom Of movement than
they had In that port. Neither can
their movements be as easily controlled
by the Japanese men Of war.
1t Is assumed consequently that the
fight In that area will be more bitter
than 1t was last Winter and the jap
anese will have to use their air force
freely. What may happen If the Jap
anese begin dropping mobs in those two
popu-cus cities where there ere some
3,t00 foreign troops 10 difficult to say,
but the situation contains elements OF
extreme gravity, which Is o matter Of
serious concern not only to the State
Department, but to all the other foreign
offices of the nations having interest In
the two towns.
In the meantime japanese diplomacy
Is playing the same game II played last
year
On the one hand, the japanese Dip
lomats abroad give reasSuranceS to the
governments to which they are accred-
tied that the occupation OF Shanhai-
'kwan was mere incident OF practa-
cally no importance and that the Japa-
nese army will be careful to avoid sucn
incidents" In the future. Toxic sends
out notes stating that the Japanese
army has acted in self defense, being
provoked by the aggressive attitude OF
the Chinese and that the government
hopes to localiEe the incident, II the
Chinese do not continue with their
provocative attitude. While this smoke
screen, thin ss 1t may seem 70 many
observers, Is put out by Toxic, the Jap
anese army IS proceeding according 70
a well defined plan Of action.
Troops Still Going In.
Troops are being rushed into China
from Man:huria and. according to re-
llshle reports from Japan, transports
are being held In readiness to land more
troops on Chinese territory should the
situation warrant such action, and the
situation depends 5n what kind Of re-
sistance the Chinese can offer to the
invading armies.
Toxic has informed Marshal Chang
that ha will BE- made directly respon-
sible for the military operations the
japanese general staff may find neces-
sary to undertake In case the Chinese
oppose the peaceful penetration" of
the japanese troops into China. In this
manner the Toxic government Is pre-
psriTg the ground to throw the re-
sponsibility for the fighting on the Chi-
nese field marshal.
Listening to the sound advice of ex-
perienced diplomats, the Chinese field
marshal has referred the Japanese to
Marking, thus making It clear that he
obeys only the orders OF the central
authority of China and that he per-
sonally is doing nothing else but obey
orders from his central government.
The Chinese are. doing at present
their utmost to end the farce Of ''in-
cidents" and 'provocations" and give
the present conflict its proper name
a Sino-Japauese war.