China's Resistance News from Shanghai and Hong Kong about fighting
in provinces as fax distant as Shantung and Anhwei must neces- sarily be received with some reserve, and when the news varies according as it emanates from Chinese or Japanese sources the reserve must be proportionately greater. The general position appears to be that in the protracted conflict for the possession of the key-city of Suchow, where the impor- tant north-and-south railway from Tsinan-fu to Nanking is crossed by the east-and-west Lunghai line from the coast to the interior, the Japanese advance was first checked and then completely held by the Chinese, but has in the last few days been resumed. The success achieved is so far small ; 'the city of Taierhchwang, which was lost to the Japanese more than a fortnight ago, has not been recaptured, and though Japanese reinforcements have been rushed to that front the Chinese preponderance in numbers is immense. But the Japanese are, of course, superior in guns and aeroplanes, and it remains to be seen whether that will turn the scale. We are being told again by Shanghai correspondents that a decisive battle is imminent, but it is by no means certain whether it is, or what decisive in this connexion means. But nothing is happening to dispel the belief that whatever immediate succes- ses the Japanese may achieve the prospects of the Chinese are the more hopeful in the long view. The real question is whether China is prepared to sacrifice territory, and if so how much, for the sake of peace ; and if not, how long Japan can stand the strain.
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