The Powers and China
MORE has been read into Sir Austen Chamberlain's statement in the House of Commons on Monday than it really contained. Speaking of the future relations of Great Britain and China, he said that it was impossible to negotiate in the present anarchical conditions ; that the good faith of the Cantonese must be tested by their .conduct at Hankow ; and that the proper authority to discuss the future status of Shanghai was the diplo- matic body of the Powers. He suggested that the diplomats would have no difficulty in conducting negotiations when there was " a single Chinese authority exercising power throughout China."
Some critics seem to think that the Government, inexpressibly shocked by the savagery and the bad faith displayed by the Cantonese at Nanking, have suddenly been seized with remorse and panic and want to go back upon all their promises. For our part we do not believe a word of it. We are confident that Sir Austen's statement was intended to apply to the obvious and immediate chaos in China. He was, in short, merely stating the self-evident fact that you cannot suddenly produce orderliness out of disorder, and that when human life and a great deal of private property depend upon the bargain you cannot strike that bargain until you are sure that the man. who represents the other side is really what he professes to be.
In order to be convinced that the Government do not think that the situation demands a changed policy, we need only look back a few weeks. The Government at that time profoundly mistrusted either the willingness or the ability of the Cantonese to protect life and property. It was this mistrust which caused them to send the Defence Force to Shanghai. Again, when the Govern- ment originally produced their policy of magnanimity there was no more certainty than there is now that there would be " a single Chinese authority exercising power throughout China." If anything, there was less certainty than there is now. The chances that the Cantonese will overrun China up to Peking are much stronger than they were. Surely, then, it is clear that the Government have not been stampeded into a change of plan. Their policy of liberality was framed with their eyes wide open. They perfectly appreciated the risks and they accepted them. To change the policy now would be tantamount to a confession that they acted heedlessly or in ignorance—a humiliating confession to make to the Chinese. Nothing would be more likely to do us injury in China.
As it is, although some observers whose thoughts date back to a generation ago talk of our " surrenders " and our " loss of prestige " in China, we venture to say that our reputation for courage and foresight has been greatly increased, not lessened, by what has hap- pened. After some years this will be plain to everybody. The Government, in combining a policy of broad indul7 gence with particular practical measures against emer- gencies, have earned respect for what may be called a daring moderation ; and British soldiers and sailors have proved themselves, -by their patience and unfailing discipline under provocation,,. to -possess a civilized courage which may have been ' equalled-but has' never been exceeded. The truth is that Great Britain is foreign affairs with weapons and arguments that are quite new. Perhaps we ought to say with an absence of weapons, for all our foreign policy has to be conducted on the assumption that it is useless to threaten war—the old stock means of intimidation_ becausewar *would not be tolerated by anybody. in the circumstances the success of British foreign policy has been astonishing and we cannot think that the present Government have received more than a fraction of the credit due to them.
A final reason which makes it certain that the Govern- ment do not contemplate an altered policy towards China is that we are disputing about nothing but the right to exist and trade in China, and if we fail to placate Chinese Nationalism by recognizing its reality we shall cer- tainly never be able either to exist there. in safety -or trade with success. Shanghai is a rich and nag- nificent city ; it has been reared mainly by British enterprise ; but it would become a mere coastal fort, having to be continually guarded and main- tained as a fort, if the whole of the interior of China remained hostile to us. When Sir Austen Chamberlain said that the proper authority for dealing with China was the diplomatic body he said again only what was implied in the British Memorandum last 'Christmas. That Manifesto, was intended to give a lead to the Powers and if possible to bring them together again. It was the expressed intention of the Government to take independent action only in the last resort. Clearly there is no change of policy here either. It really looks, however, as though the Powers were falling into line again, not after all as the result of the Memorandum, but as the result of circum- stances.
All too long Great Britain was allowed to be the special butt Of Chinese hatred. Most Americans appa- rently believed that though the British case looked all right upon paper there must be behind it some facts 'which were never mentioned, some secret cause (the opium trade, perhaps) which justified China in singling out Great Britain for peculiar detestation. The attacks on the Americans at Nanking have evidently caused Americans at home to see matters in quite a new light. There is no occasion to complain now of a lack of co-operation between the Great Powers. That is a very important gain. It ought to be possible to do in unison what it would have been invidious for Great Britain to try to do alone—to insist that freedom for the Chinese does not mean freedom to kill foreigners and to wreck their property. The provision of adequate protection has alivays been part of the British policy, so there is no change in this respect either. The only difference is that we shall now have the help of convinced collaborators. Great Britain 'offers to China with all Sincerity a straight deal and expects a straight deal in return.
The aim of the Goveinment, as we understand it, is to revise the treatiea. and the foreign arrangements in China as speedily as possible, consistently with safety for foreign nationals. Nobody in this country has ever wavered upon that point except the Labour Party, which apparently does not appreciate the majesty of the principle of Civis Britannicus sum. It is odd that the Labour Party, of all parties, should display this want of penetration, as one would have thought that no party could do better political business by making much of the idea -of a- world-wide commonwealth of workers who have built up their fortunes and their freedom 'by theit own hard work and splendid character. Mr. Haden Guest knew the truth and told it—with the result that he had to leave his party.
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