China Speaks - On The Conflict Between China And Japan (Paperback)

Text extracted from opening pages of book: On the Confliff Between China and Japan By CHIH MENG Associate Director CHINA INSTITUTE IN AMERICA With an Introduction by His Excellency W. W. YEN, Chief Delegate of China to the League of Nations Minister of China to the United States of America NEW YORK THE MACMJLLAN COMPANY Copyright, 1932, may be reproduced m any for t m? with$ ttt jrftm$ si$ n$ itf $ rit&( g from the publisher, except 1? y * a reviewer wild W-fM td' q& ote brief passages in connection with timfwitw written for inclusion in magazine * !; *$ newspaper. Set up and printed. Published April, 1932. Reprinted April, 1932. f HINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. INTRODUCTION By His Excellency W. W. YEN Chief Delegate of China to the League o Nations Minister of China to the United States FOR years past, the Japanese publicists have taken great pains to convince the world that the control or possession of Manchuria is vital to the existence of Japan. They have appealed on sentimental or historical grounds; they have elaborated its economic necessity; and they have argued on grounds of military necessity. The greatest difficulty with these Japanese spokesmen is that they think only of the national existence and defense of Japan, while it never seems to occur to them that China has her needs too. What about the national existence of China, the national defense of China, the economic requirements of China, and the strategic necessity of Manchuria to China ? Historically and sentimentally, Manchuria has been part of China for centuries and it is the home of millions of Chinese. That Japan fought Russia on Chinese soil and that a large number of Japanese soldiers lost their livesin Man churia, constitutes no valid reason for the preposterous claims which have been constantly put forward by the Japanese spokesmen* vl INTRODUCTION Economically, Manchuria is destined to play a very im portant role in the industrial development of China. Man churia contains some of the best coal fields. China is not at all well supplied with iron and Manchuria has the largest iron deposit. With its growing population, China has to import annually large amounts of food stuffs; Manchuria with its rich soil is looked upon as the granary for China's millions. China, no less than Japan, is faced with the prob lem of surplus population, especially in the provinces along the coast Exclusion laws operate against Chinese emigrants even harder than they do against Japanese. Hence, enor mous numbers of immigrants have yearly poured into the Three Eastern Provinces during the last decade. These are elemental economic problems that are facing the Chinese people, which no thinking people can ignore. Strategically, Manchuria is absolutely vital to China's se curity. Chinese history has taught that China's security de pends upon an adequate defense of its northern boundary. During the last thousand years, China has witnessed two invasions, each of which led to a domination of China for several hundred years. Both of them came from beyond the Great Wall. The fact is that whoever holds South Man churia is the master of North China, Strategically, South Manchuria commands a dominating position over the great plains of Central Asia, and it is well-nigh impossible to de fend these plains against powerful attacks from the north east. If Manchuria is spoken of as the first line of defense of Japan, whatabout China? Where is China's first line of defense and where is China's second line of defense ? The Chinese are not so unreasonable as to ignore the INTRODUCTION vii reasonable and legitimate needs and aspirations of the Jap anese people. Japan is our nearest neighbour, and we sin cerely desire to be at peace with our neighbours. For many centuries the Japanese people have shared the heritage of our civilization. As it has been admitted by one of the leading Japanese savants, Your civilization ( Chinese) has been our ( Japanese) civilization, your history has bee