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POLITICAL SITUATION.
Peking Government.
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UNDER the title of "Provisional Chief Executive of the Government of China, Marshal Tuan Ch'i-jui, chief of the Anfu party, has managed to maintain his position as head of the Government at Peking, from which, it will be remembered, the Powers withdrew de jure recognition after the coup d'Etat of Gctober 1924. The actual executive power, such as it is, has shifted during the year from a coalition of representatives of the Anfu, Mukden and Kuomin parties to a Cabinet composed mainly of moderate Kuomintang elements. For a short time early in the year, with the arrival of Dr. Sun Yat-sen at the capital, it seemed possible that a serious effort might be made to evolve a form of Government to which all political parties in China would give their allegiance. On Dr. Sun's death (the 12th March) the only personality that could have held together the disruptive elements disappeared, and the Canton section of the Kuomintang resumed its attitude of uncompromising hostility to the Peking Government.
2. The Chief Executive has nevertheless continued to cherish the hope that it would be possible to convene a "Citizens' Conference," representative of the whole nation, to whom could be assigned the task of discussing and passing a Constitution. A preliminary conference, known as the Reorganisation Conference," sat in Peking from the 1st February to the 21st April, and was intended to devise plans for constitutional, financial and military reform, and to elaborate preparatory measures for the Citizens' Conference. It appears, however, to have accomplished little beyond organising two commissions to carry on its work. On the 3rd August a committee charged with the duty of drafting a new Constitution held its inaugural meeting, and in spite of the civil war which broke out in the autumn, was able to
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complete its labours by the end of the year, and to submit to the Chief Executive a Traft Constitution. Another new body, known as the Provisional Senate or State Council, was inaugurated about the same time (the 30th July). Its duties were said to be to assist the Chief Executive and to discuss and pass bills submitted by him on various affairs of State.
Its actual achievements went little beyond the allocation of work among five committees, composed of some forty members each, who are reported to have seldom attended in sufficient numbers to form a quorum.
Manœuvres for Power.
3. The beginning of the year was noticeable for the steady extension of the authority of Marshal Chang Tso-lin southwards to the neighbourhood of Shanghai. It gradually spread along the Tien-tsin-Pukow Railway and through the provinces of Chihli, Shantung, Anhui and Kiangsu, until the outbreak of civil war in the autumn drove his troops rapidly back. The capital itself still remained under the ontrol of Marshal Feng Yü-hsiang, commanding the First Kuomin Army, whose headquarters were at Kalgan. He was appointed early in the year Director General of North-West Frontier Defence, and his troops occupied the Peking-Suiyuan- Paotou Railway. His allies, Generals Hu Ching-yi and Sun Yüeh, commanding espectively the Second and Third Kuomin Armies, occupied the Chihli and Honan ections of the Peking Hankow Railway as far as the borders of Hupei. In the ther provinces the control of affairs was also in the hands of various military eaders, as described in paragraph 10 of the annual report for 1924.
4. In January a last effort was made by General Ch'i Hsieh-yüan, the defeated Military Governor of Kiangsu, to regain possession of Shanghai from the local repre- entative of the Peking Government. With the support of General Sun Ch'uan-fang, Military Governor of Chekiang, whose troops occupied important positions south of Shanghai, a sudden attack was made on the 10th January in the neighbourhood of the Kiangnan arsenal. General Chang's troops were overwhelmed, and General Ch'i emained once more in control of Shanghai. Encouraged by this success, the latter repared to advance on Nanking and to oust General Lu Yung-hsiang, who had ecently been appointed Pacification Commissioner of Kiangsu and Anhui and Military Governor of Kiangsu. The Fengtien troops, which had now been heavily einforced from Manchuria and included a regiment of Russians, advanced under General Chang Tsung-chang from Nanking along the railway towards Shanghai to meet their opponents. After a preliminary clash near Chinkiang, General Ch'i's esistance gradually collapsed, his troops were overcome, and he himself fled to Japan towards the end of January, leaving the railway and the greater part of the province under the control of the Fengtien generals. The Peking Government professed to believe that General Sun Ch'uan-fang had been no party to General Chi's compaign, and confirmed the former's appointment as Military Governor of Chekiang. It was arranged that both Sun's and Chang's forces should withdraw From Shanghai. Sun withdrew to Sungkiang in Kiangsu Province and Chang to Kunshan (Quinsan); and this position of the opposing forces was maintained until the disturbances at Shanghai on the 30th May gave the Fengtien generals an opportunity of occupying Shanghai under the pretext of preserving order. The position of the Military and Civil Governors of the province, Generals Lu Yung- asiang and Han Kuo-chün, soon became untenable as General Chang took charge of the civil as well as the military administration and they left their posts in May and June respectively.
Under pressure from Marshal Chang Tso-lin. General Chang Tsung-chang was appointed by the Chief Executive Military Governor of Shantung to take the place of General Cheng Shih-ch'i, one of Marshal Tuan's most rusted adherents, and arrived at Tsinan to assume the duties of his office on the 3th May, with some 15.000 troops. In due course he was appointed concurrently Bivil Governor of the province.
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A struggle then ensued between the Chief Executive and Marshal Chang Tso-lin over the appointment of a Military Governor for the Province of Anhui, which ended in the latter having to agree to the appointment to the post of another
dherent of the Anfu clique.
6. In Chihli Province the Fengtien General Li Ching-lin had been appointed in January Military Governor. In April bis troops occupied Paoting-fu and the Borthern (Chihli) section of the Peking-Hankow Railway, from which General Sun Yüeh retired into Honan. Mukden forces also occupied the Jehol territory, ns half encircling the capital and threatening the position of Marshal Feng Yü- hsiang. Cut off from his allies of the Second and Third Kuomin Armies and from
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