sat
amalpor nd e
0
WU PEI-FU.
LEADING CHINESE
GENERAL.
HIS WORK FOR HIS COUNTRY.
(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)
PEKING (by mail).
Promptitude and an absence of the circumlocution common in the Orient are characteristic of the dealings of Wu Pei- fu. When I telegraphed to him person- ally to say that, with his permission, I proposed to visit him at Loyang, there came the brief but satisfactory reply, "You are welcome.-Wu Pei-fu."
When passing through Loyang on the way to inspect construction on the Lung- Hai railway & telephone message to bim stated the hour of my arrival on the following day, and on my return a motor. car came to meet me sharp to the moment. We drove straight to the General's head- quarters, and within five minutes I was sitting beside him in his office.
The man himself is an attractive per- sonality, and his smile and beaming eyes He is warm one to friendliness at once. tall for a Chinese, but alender, and of the' same type, physically, as Chang Tso-lin, but, whereas the latter is pale, Wu has the ruddy countenance of a soldier accus- tomed to sun and wind. He is up and out every morning attending to the drill- ing of his troops. The Manchurian general is almost feminine in physique, and is a moderate opium smoker. Wu has healthy appreciation of spirituous liquor, but does not indulge in it until the strenu- ous day's work is over. Nor is he ever late for parade.
A
His father His humble origin is no secret. was a simple former in Shantung, but the son had studious tastes and devoted himself to old examination scholarship. Under the syster he took the primary degree of Halutaai, but was then compelled by poverty to work for hie Living. He joined the Army as an officer's servaut, and since then has steadily risen. Ifia first important appoint- ment was the command of a battalion at Changchun, part of the 3rd Division under This was Tao Kun stationed at Mukden. in pre-Revolution days, before Chang Tae-lin had risen to eminence.
HIS ARMY.
It was this division which in 1912 50 disastrously looted a great part of Peking. supposedly inspired to this by Yuan Shib-kal to frighten the Nanking delegates, who wanted him to go South to receive office from the new- born Parliament. The dividon is now under Wu Pei-in's direct command at Loyang, but contain none of the officer and inen who distinguished themselves in Peking. It is a model body of troope, the men all young, physically fit, and well disciplined.
During the laborious process of interpreta- tion General Wu snuotated a big bundle of dispatches, desisting when it was his turn to talk or listen. Omitting all the kind inquiries. about my health and the comfort of my Journey, he went straight to the point Bug- gested by my visit to the adjacent construction works by referring to the importance of rail- way extension, for economic development on the one hand, and as a means of employing disbanded soldiers on the other. He expressed particular anxiety about the completion of the Canton Hankow Railway, which, he said, would greatly assist the policy of unification, in which he was particularly interested.
This gave me the opportunity to remark that there was plenty of foreign money for milway construction in China, but that nothing would be available until the establish- ment of & Government commanding con
Further, fidence at home as well as abroad. that foreigners were dismayed by the chaos in Chine, which seemed to them to be leading to a break-up of the country into small inde pendent States, a condition that would arotise much anxiety among the foreign Power interested.
General Wu smiled easily at there fears and quoted history to prove that revolutions were followed by periods of unrest that teated patience. He was confident that things in China were adjusting themselves, and that by the end of this year there would be favour able development. He said that unification must come first, after which disbandment of superfluous troops would become practicable, and after that the straightening out of the finances would follow automatically. admitted to disappointment in the Govern- ment at Peking, and particularly in the Parlia ment, but believed that the new Parliament, which must soon follow the present, would be
• great improvement on its predecessor.
Times 189 May 1923.
THE TUCHUNS.
163
I asked General Wu what were the obstacles to unification. He said they were rather in tangible. but that the real difficulty was that the Tachuns [Military Governors], who talked and telegraphed so glibly on this point, were secretly opposed for the reason that unificat tion would mean a diminution in their own: power in favour of the Central Government. I then put it to him that unification far off if it depended upon a change of att
part of the Tuchuns. This admitted, and
tude on the then compelled to th
further admission that if some of the Tuchung proved recalcitrant force would have to be wed against them. He would not admit. however, that there was any immediate, prospect of 2 further clash between himsel and Chang T80-lin. Although nothing de-1 nite was sald, I received the impression from General Wn, and from some of his advisert with whom I afterwards talked, that the in- tention was to pres the unlication pro gramme fist in other directions and to leave Chang Teo-lia until some measure of suc-O had been attained.
A Cabinet crisis was provoked by Wo Pei- fu's demand that the Government should make certain appolutments in Fukieu and Kwangtung, I asked him if he was still pressing this demand, and whether, if it were noceded to in the cass of General Shen Hun ying the Kwangsi commander, now the prin- cipal military factor in Kwangtung—that par-) sonage would be prepared to promote uniflca- tion. General Wil stated that he was still in sisting on Shen's appointment, but admitted; that he was not certain of Shen's adherence to the unification programme, from which it. may be deduced that the whole object of General Wu's intervention is to keep Sap Yat-ren out of Kwangtung.
It is obvious that there is a great deal of notheming going on between Chang Tso-lin And the Antu (pro-Fapanese) leaders for the restore tion of Sun YAL-2011 in Canton, not for any love of the latter, but in order to defeat W Pai-tu's endeavour to bring a number of the Yangtase and Southern provinces together, These intrigued are evidently regarded as blocking the way to unity, and it is pro- bable that Wu Pel-fu is meditating some sort of a dentonstration in the South.
Wu Pei-fu knows little of international affaire, and this lack is a gravo deficiency in his equipment for dealing with high politics. He explains himself as a soldier having me concern with politica, but the large political staff which he maintains and the activities in which he engages prove the contrary. He is busy pulling strings everywhere, partly with the object of counterbalancing the endeavour to combine for his destruction, and partly for the furtherance of his own well-intentionad plans for national reconstruction.
According to both foreign and Chinese ideas' he is not making conspicuous progress in either respect. Nevertheless the man possessar Individuality and character. He has proved" himselt ■ commander-personally of bravery, something fars in Ching-superson to any of his fellow-countrymen. Ile com- mandi about one hundred and fifty thousand troope, who revera him as a leader. reputation for honesty and patriotism is esta blished. He may not himself be endowed with the qualities necessary in the one who shall straighten out the affairs of this country and enable it to take a place in the world us going concern. But should there arias a statesman of the required calibre he will assuredly find in Wu Pei-fu a most valuable coadjutor.
The Enchett to see
SR2 Tattach.
275-
A
:
!