1938-10-10 — Page 30

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THE CHINA MAIL DOUBLE TENTH SUPPLEMENT.

CHINA RESISTS

(Continued from Page 15)

and escaped to the westward, where their position was speedi- ly improved, with corresponding detriment to the Japanese. forces. by the Yellow River floods.

That meant that the Japanese army must undertake a campaign against Hankow if it still wanted its "smashing victory"—and there was no guarantee that any such achievement would follow a mid- dle Yangtze occupation, as was pointed out by anxious Japanese civilian leaders, who would much prefer to see lines drawn and an intensive economic exploitation of already-occupied areas begun,

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For they know, as the Japan- ese army conveniently prefers not to know, that from now on China is a great bog into which the Japanese wade at their peril. They recognise that the phase of the war must be fought on China's terms, not Japan's; for while Japan could operate with reasonable ease and effi- ciency along the coasts, with aid of her navy and with heavily mechanised units utilising China's

communications media (chiefly highways and rail- roads, together with the ancient canals), the hinterland is a dif- ferent story. There the Chinese have things far more their own way, and while they make all im- aginable difficulties for the ad- vancing units they can likewise build up and render increasingly efficient the guerrilla units which to-day harass Japan's thin lines of communications down to the very boundaries of Shanghai.

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China is in this now phase merely falling back on her own essentially agrarian structure; what has happened thus far has deprived her only of the coastal

industrials, which were rather luxuries than necessities in any event. At no time did China ever have single points which meant to her what such cities as Osaka mean to Japan, or Manchester to England. That has been one of the most exasperating phases- of the campaign, to the Japanese- that the great sprawling Chinese monster was nowhere vulnerable for a death blow.

What is more, the Chinese : actually appear to have gathered fresh strength under stress. New armies have been built up, a sys- tem developed for supplying fresh

men

in ever-greater numbers; inland industries are starting, which means less need to import while many small munitions plants are turning out the true sinews of Chinese military resis- tance, even though China must still look abroad for big guns. and airplanes. Some of the hither- to neglected interior provinces are experiencing a boom and un- dergoing rapid development of communications and natural re- sources such as never would have occurred within many years un- der other circumstances. What is more, China is fighting "on the cheap"-throwing into action a man power five or six times that of Japan and making Japan spend for from three to five dollars every one China lays out.

And what is the position of General Chiang Kai-shek, who (say the Japanese) must be crush- ed before there can be peace, and whose government has been ignored by the Japanese since late last Januàry? [

General Chiang stands to-day stronger than ever in the eyes of his own people, while his ́ Gov- ernment remains. the one centre

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Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek Inspects Members of the Newly Organized Officers Training Corps, Formed in Preparation for a Long Campaign..

of an increasingly united China. Japan's efforts to organise puppet regimes at Peiping and Nanking have been farcical... A few dis- credited old men cower pathetical- ly behind Japanese bayonets and do not make even a pretense at any real governing, while as a matter of fact in Hopel province and elsewhere the Chinese have actually been able to build up.

on the their own governments other side of the Japanese lines. No end to the struggle is in sight. It is an endurance contest, Bombastic declarations are seen to be utterly meaningless, as one penetrates inlands and witnesses, the true situation. Without doubt, the Japanese can press along established communication lines. by weight of their mechanised units and air force; there is no use in denying that, although Chinese soldiers have shown

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themselves as good as any on earth when properly led and given any sort of decent equip- ment. On the other hand, the Ja- panese have not broken Chiang, they have not shattered his arm- ies, they have built up rather than destroyed China's national, unity, and they are forced to press on and on against constantly more difficult conditions at ever-greater cost and with ever-diminishing. prospects of being able to subdue and exploit the occupied territory within any estimate future. In the economy long run, the Chinese may be the deciding factor, for China is taking all this in her stride and building a form of nor- mal life despite terrific hardship, while the Japanese are under con- stant straft, which may come to a breaking point, The Chinese are counting on, precisely that.

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