11 JUNE 1942, Page 1

Felp for China

It is good news that British and American air force units have rived in China, and will presumably soon participate in the heavy tilting that is developing in the Chekiang and Kiangsi provinces. should not for a moment be assumed because China has ccessfully held her own against Japan for five years that the enemy not capable of a dangerous offensive on the Chinese fronts. The mporary closing of the Burma Road and the limitation of supplies in the outside world presents Japan with an opportunity which

t .eems bent on exploiting ; and it would serve her purpose well

enough, and be a grievous setback tel-the-Ailies, if she were able tea.sio no more than seize the airfields from which in the near future we should hope to send bombing raiders against Tokyo. The bombing of her homeland is one of the things that Japan fears most, and the dread of it might even make her attack the other possible bombing base, Vladivostok, if she could first deal a smashing blow at China which would make it safer for her to be embroiled with Russia. The Chinese Army spokesman is probably right when he says that Japan's chief military objective -at the moment is in China, and in the first place aimed at the Chekiang-Kiangsi railway. It is essential that the most strenuous efforts should be made to get through help to her in the form of more air force units and more munitions. Just as the whole Allied cause is served by helping Russia to fight Ger- many, so is it served by helping China to fight Japan. A high priority must be given to China's call for supplies.