Japan on the Yangtse One important effect of Europe's preoccupation
with the Czech crisis is that aggressors who are already in the field can proceed without fear of intervention or even restraint from abroad. In Spain indeed the insurgents are still held ; but in China this week Japan has made valuable progress in her advance on Hankow. The reported fall of Wuseh and the destruction of the boom across the river allows Japan's warships, followed by her troops on either bank, to proceed further up the Yangtse, to as far as Wanpienshan, 8o miles from Hankow. With Japan's advance one of the decisive moments of the war approaches, as the capture of Hankow would give Japan control of the Chinese Government's communications to north, south, east and west. Hankow is indeed the real centre of the area still controlled by Chiang Kai-shek. But perhaps the worst news for China has been the development of the crisis in Europe. Throughout the war she has hoped for some form of foreign intervention and support ; today that seems less likely than ever. The fatal error or misfortune of the Western democracies is that in three separate areas, China, Central Europe and Spain, conflicts in which their vital interests are threatened have been permitted to come to a head at the same time. Each in turn distracts attention from the other.
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