CHINA Chaos

CHINA

Chaos

In general, the situation in China arising out of the anti-foreign riots (TIME, June 15 et seq.) neither improved nor grew worse. A state of high tension existed at Peking, Shanghai and Canton and the anti-foreign flame was fanned to remoter parts of the seaboard Provinces.

A new Government, entirely sympathetic to Bolshevism, if not in its favor, was formed in Canton. Almost its first act was to demand of Britain and France the recession of Shameen, the foreign concession; an apology for the recent shortcomings; compensation to the families of the killed.

At Shanghai, shipping remained tied up by strikers who are being directly subsidized from Peking. Shops and banks were open. Excitement entered the picture when a U. S. gob shot a Chinese who was about to attack a municipal policeman from behind.

From Washington came vague proposals that a conference might soon be called to consider the question of abolishing extraterritoriality (immunity of foreigners from the jurisdiction of Chinese courts) in accordance with the Washington Conference treaties. This suggestion left the British stone cold. The Star, London evening journal, summed up the British point of view when it referred to the development of Shanghai by foreign, capital from a swamp to a great commercial centre. It added: "If the American Government really meant to hand all this over to a corrupt and ignorant Chinese Mandarin, half magistrate and half bandit, American merchants and traders who have settled in Shanghai would make their voices heard in unmistakable fashion."

The semi-official point of view was that the abolition of extraterritoriality was impossible while the state of China is chaos, as it was the sole protection of foreigners who had interests there.

Japan's semi-official reaction to the U. S. suggestion was a noncommittal offer to cooeperate, but not until all nations had helped China "to effect her salvation by reestablishing order and preparing for the final consideration of the important problem of extraterritoriality, which is the most important in the Far East."