CO129-492 - Governor Sir Clementi - 1925 [12] - 1926 [1-5] — Page 468

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Japan and hostile to Russia would, if war again broke

out between Japan and Russia, be astride the trans- Siberian railway and, therefore, a formidable obstacle to the movement of Russian troops towards the Pacific coast. Japan will accordingly in all lilihood do her utmost to keep the Bolsheviste out of Manchuria and encourage a policy of Manchuria for the Manchus,

4.

But elsewhere in China it would hardly

be to the advantage of Japan to oppose the infiltration of Bolshevik propaganda which acta as a disruptive element in Chinese politics. While, in so far as Bolshevism is an attack on the trade and civilization of the white races, and especially on Great Britain and the United States of America, it may be that Japanese statesmen watch its progress in China not without satisfaction. Especially is this likely to be the case in South China where Hong Kong, French Indo-China, Burma and the Philippine islands stand to suffer heavily if Bolshevism succeeds.

5.

It is important to remember that ever

if not earlier

M

--

since the Paris Peace Conference there has been organized anti- Japanese feeling in China, kept alive principally through the activities of Chinese students and through the institution of the anmal "Humiliation Day" (7th May) a perpetuation of national indignation at the concession by China of the Japanese "twenty-one demands". This concession was subsequently revoked; but "Humiliation Day" continued and anti- Japanese agitation and boycotts were endemic in China. It became a matter of importance for Japan to unload this hate upon other shoulders and at last she appears to have succeeded in doing so in South China, in spite of the

fact