Evening star., 1942-02-14


OF war the lesser one.
Speaking not as a Chinese but, as
he explained, as a citizen Of the
world. he talked OF the serious con-
sequences certain to follow tenn
,porary japanese victory in the
Pacific.
THE ultimate victory will be
ours. to be sure" he said. "but what
painful and prolonged victory 1t
will be If the Japanese are allowed
to fulfill their ambitions. AS we
build, so will the Japanese build.
With Singapore gone the Dutch East
Indies will be seriously menaced. So
will Burma. All of the tremendous
wealth and natural resources Of
those lands will be utilized against
us. Money, tin, rubber, petroleum.
And, we Of China. who have been
fighting the japanese for five full
years, know the difficulties Of re-
capturing lands. 1t is so much
easier to hold a city or q country
than to retake 1t from an intrenched
foe"
He spoke of the road. The Burma
road-that tortuous. winding. life
line of China. He placed little faith
in the optimistic British statements
that even If Rangoon is lost, and the
Burma road closed, other highways
will be available.
What other highways?" he asked.
THE old silk route that leads from
Northwestern China to Russia? 1t
is 5000 miles long against TOO or so
miles of the Burma road and is in
even worse condition. Could they
mean the rl-Sikang route? The
only difficulty there is that its con-
struction has scarcely begun. and
engineers say 1t will be near the
close of 1912 before it will be ready
and only then II continuous flow
Of materials from Britain and the
United States comes through"
The United States and Britain
must realize, and quickly, that the
Chinese-Japanese war is no longer
IAN incident" Too long the people
Of those countries have looked on
this war as something so remote, so
far away, that no matter if China
were defeated. it would not affect
them. They must realize that China
is fighting for the world.
+*s&
"If China Is defeated. 45O. 900 900
people will fall into the hands Of
the Japanese. and all Of the vast
natural resources of my land as well.
Thousands of these people will be
forced to contribute to the japanese
cause, both as workers and fighters.
Already. through bribery or the
point of the bayonet, Chinese are
fighting Chinese. And there is the
great loss of prestige that the Britons
and Americans will suffer If they are
defeated in the Pacific. Thousands
of Chinese will lose faith in the
democracies and feel less like fight.
ing the japanese"
The old Chinese brought out an
other point:
With the loss of Singapore,
Malaga. the Dutch East Indies, Thai
land, Burma and the Philippines.
Gen. Chang Kai-shek will be robbed
Of his greatest financial support.
Each year since the japanese at
tackled China in 1887, China's COL
onists have poured more than $780,
100000 into the generalissimo's treas
ury. OF that amount, only a small
fraction came from 10000 or so Chi
nese in the United States. The
Chinese in this country are not rich.
1t is in Singapore, Thailand and
Burma where the millionaire Chi
nese live. When those countries fall,
Chang Kai-sheks support will cease.
Toward the end of our talk, the
old Chinese pointed out that Amer
leans have no conception of the
japanese as fighters.
They are not civilized. They are
animals. Mean, cunning, savage
animals. China knows them. Has
known them for years and years.
This country is too nice. Yes, too
nice. Its people have yet to realize
that 1t is not only ridiculous but
dangerous to handle the Japanese
with gloves. They only respect hard
ness and brutality"
distributed BY McNsught Syndicate. Inc.)