China and Japan The war in China continues to show
the precarious nature of Japan's military victories. Having advanced to the frozen Yellow River, still stubbornly defended, and by the capture of Puchow obtained control of the Puchow-Taiyuan Railway, the Japanese claim to have conquered the whole of Shansi Province. But their effective control extends only along the railways and their lines of communication, while the province is infested with thousands of Chinese irregulars who harass their flank and rear and the bulk of the Chinese forces has withdrawn westward. The Governor of Kwantung, General Wu Teh-chen, this week asserted without qualification that, though Hankow may fall and South China be invaded, Japan could never win the war ; she could not win because to consolidate their victories required the co-operation of the Chinese which would never be given. The Governor's confidence may be exaggerated yet undoubtedly it is founded on a fundamental weakness in Japan's methods of bringing peace to China, and something of the temper of the Chinese was shown this week in the murder of a Chinese General suspected of willingness to take office under the Japanese. The invaders of China may yet learn the lesson that past invaders of Russia have had impressed on them. * *
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