The Wilmington morning star., 1945-10-21

The News
BY JAMES D. WHITE
Associated Press Sfoes m

AN A'osoAolls WOrk togeth.
er in operating vital MalshnIria
railway under strange and co r1a
pick new agreement.
The rail system is one of a.
keys to political and econonai NV
domination of eastern Asia Ths
agreement for its operation is NOV
ifestly designed to interlock tba
personal responsibilities of bots
Russian and Chinese adnjnistr.
tors to such an extent that anU
thing but cooperation would be N.Y.
thinkable as long as their govern
ments remain friendly.
This agreement is one Of civ
highly important treaties sjgnsS
between Moscow and Chungkina
between Moscow and Chunplin
important issues between these two
greatest remaining powers in
Asia.
Behind his series lies the lttl..
understood background OF Sino
Russian relations, echoes of which
can be discerned in the new
treaties.
First Trouble
Russians and Chinese first ran
into each other-and trouble - al
about the time the pilgrim fathers
were landing on Plymouth Rock
The Emperor of China at the time
was the great K'ang Hsi, a Man.
chu potentate whose Chinese sub.
jects roamed widely through the
wilds of Eastern Siberia looking for
gold, and for Chinese medicines
such as deer-horn, tiger whiskers
and bear-claWs.
Russian trappers, headed by
czarist agent named Khabarof, got
into serious trouble with these Chi.
nese. The result was the treaty Of
Nerchinsk, signed in 1889. The Chi.
nese wanted everything east Of
Lake Baikal. The Russians wanted
everything down to the Amur riv-
err. Each side feared and knew lit
tie about the other, so they com.
promised, setting the boundary
considerably north of the Amur.
This situation lasted until 1858,
when cZarist official named Muir
aviev succeeded in convincing the
Chinese with some show Of force)
that the Amur was the natur.
al boundary between Siberia and
Manchuria. Later, he wangled mar
thine Siberia, including the harbor
of Vladivostok. The Anaur turned
out to be sort Of a joint river
The Chinese had nominal control,
but Russian boats could sail on it,
and so on.
BY 1896 the Russians were try.
ing to complete the trans-Siberian
railway, and wanted to run cut
off through Manchuria which would
save several hundred miles. The
Car prevailed upon the Chinese
to let him build it, and later
branch line down to Dairen as well.
Joint Control Again
The line was chartered by Rus.
STA as the Chinese eastern railway.
It had a Chinese president, and
Russian and Chinese stockholders,
and was operated by a Russian
board of directors. Joint control
again.
When Japan won her war with
Russia in 1905, she grabbed the
southern stem, and in 1885 she
bought" the northern cross line
from Soviet Russia, a purchase
which China protested as Illegal
Now Russian troops have recon
quered the whole works, and the
cross-line and the stem down to
Dairen are to be known as single
system, the Chinese Changchum
line. 1t is to be administered as a
Joint Sino-Russian commercial un'
dertaking, reverting to China with
out charge after 80 years - just
about the time set in the original
czarist agreement which covered
80 years.
Chinese will furnish the police TO
protect the line, which will be ao'
ministered by a joint board OF ten'
half of the Chinese and half Rus
sian. The chairman of the boafa
will be Chinese, the deputy chair
man a Russian.
Responsibility is divided ana
carefully distributed, clear down 10
station-masters. These are to De
chosen on a $3.50 basis. If the mas,
ter is a Russian his deputy must
be Chinese, and vice-versa.
The line supplies and serves
Manchuria, the breadbasket OIL
! Asia. 1t is the shortest route to 'ne
sea, to Vladivostok, to Korea u
the free pore of Dairen.
i Whoever con- OILS the rail system
controls Manchuria, and there ID
: an old saying that whoever con-,
trolls Manchuria sooner or iA''-
controls China.
China and Russia navy
. scrambled and interlocked coh'roi
of Manchuria for the next 81 yeai'
by treaty. Cynics will call IL
Chinese face on Russian real'y,
but it is an agreement which couiu
f,nction in much the same way
!. as the interlocking technique Walcn
Britain and America evolved oui,
ing the war in the joint corafnaH0
organizations.