The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1935-12-19
BUFFER.STATES
IN CHINA Barred
JAPAN'S aim
Objective Likened to That
Established in Europe
Against Reds.
BY WILLIAM PHILIP SIMMS
scripps- Howard Foreign Editor


WASHINGTON, Dec. 19-Japan
aims to create chain Of buffer
states as a Gordon sanitaire" be-
tween herself and China, on The
one hand, and Communist Russia
on the other, a japanese spokesman
indicated to the writer today.
Whereas the western powers have
only "a very minor interest" in
the region Immediately south of the
great wall and in inner Mongolia,
he said, what happens there is for
Nippon a matter Of life or death"
Three fundamental reasons were
cited as behind the present crisis:
l. The Chinese habit of pitCing
one great power against another.
g. China's helplessness and the
ever-present intrigue Of western
nations"
g. China's inability to reform her
self
Russian Grab Is Recalled
With regard to the first, the
spokesman declared, it was thus
that they once appealed to Russia for
aid against France and Britain. The
Czarists pretended to aid them
with the result that they walked
off with million square miles of
what is now maritime Siberia"
With regard to the second, he
said that Japan remembers only
too well the tragic experience re-
sulting from the Russian occupation
of Manchuria at the end of last
century"
Mote Russian penetration east
ward between 1895 and 1904 ended
in the Russo-Japanese war of
1904-05.)
Japan sees similar dangers, it was
said, even if foreign powers did
not take territories but controlled
China's air forces or other means
Of transportation or finances"
Japan Fears Chinese Disunion
Concerning reason No. 3, it was
stated that the key to the whole
1ytton report contained the words
Since the conditions (reforms)
enumerated above can not be full
filled without strong central gov
eminent in China, the final requi-
site for satisfactory solution is
temporary international cooper
alton in China"
But, observed the speaker. japan
sees danger in western Intervention
in China however much they rea-
lie the peril arising from Chinese
instability.
China has never been highly in
tegrated and centralized" he said.
AT best it has been composed of
series of economically Self-suffi-
cent, loosely federated regions with
an emperor as personal symbol
of unity. With the collapse of the
monarchy each section has tended
to go its own way.
North China No Exception
avn VI SlAl4ld, iie OpSeINeu, mas
been no exception, It's cultural
centers are Peiping and Tientsin. It
is far more closely bound, by popu-
lation ties and otherwise, to Man.
chuku0 and inner Mongolia than to
Marking and the south. 1t has been
heavily taxed and bled for the bene-
mt of Marking. Desperate, the in
habitants feel any change is better
than the status quo.
Communism coming from nearby
outer Mongolia" he went on, finds
hotbed in these regions. Outer
Mongolia, about half the size of
Europe has been absorbed into the
Soviet sphere. 1t is closed to the
outside world save for the Com
munist agents who come there to
propagandize.
The japanese believe this is the
new form of sovietization. We have
no objection to any system the Rus
slams may desire for themselves. but
we fear this new move is but a
repetition of the great Russian ex-
pansion of 1895-1904 to the east.
See Precedent in Europe
ITO prevent this, the japanese
feel that Gordon Sanitaiye' similar
to that established in Europe after
the World War is essential. In
Europe, the Baltic states, Poland
and similar new countries were es-
tablished as buffers between Com
munist Russia and western Europe.
In brief, the present situation in
North China is not Of Japanese
making or liking. 1t is the inevita-
Bile result of the economic and DO
litical breakdown of China herself.
The japanese are forced to meet
these changing circumstances, how
ever diStaSteful these events may be
to them In the light of this
danger inherent in North China. the
Japanese may be forced to take
steps to assure themselves that
nothing dangerous to Manchukuo
and Japan will arise"
This, he concluded. will not mean
the loss of their country by the Chi
neSe. Nor will American and other
foreign interests suffer. On the
contrary peace and order out there
will be better for all concerned"
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