Chiang Kai-shek's Return Far-reaching though a Chinese political crisis may
be in its effects on the equilibrium of Asia or even of the world, it is usually to Western eyes charged with a considerable clement of farce. The Chang-Chiang episode at Sianfu is certainly no exception to that. All has ended happily. The Young Marshal, Chang Hsueh-liang, has explained that his forcible detention of the Chinese Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek was due to a complete misunderstanding, for which his own untutored rusticity was responsible, and after releasing his captive he has flown after him in another aeroplane to Nanking to present himself for punishment. General Chiang Kai-shek, welcomed home amid tumultuous acclaim, has, as convention and precedent required, resigned all his offices, but it is inconceivable that China should be deprived of his indispensable services, and he will actually only take a month's leave. The writer of an article on another page gives an interesting interpretation of the whole strange incident, but it may be doubted whether his conclusion, that the affair has dealt a serious blow to the prestige of the Chinese Government, will turn out to be justified. It is at least as likely that the outcome will be the return of the semi-autonomous provinces which acknowledged Chang Hsueh-liang to full co- operation with Nanking. That theory is confirmed by the undisguised fears of Japan that things may move that way. Chinese unity is the last thing Japan desires.
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