Tha Far Eastern Danger Since July 8th, when a clash
between Japanese and Chinese forces occurred at Wangping, a few miles west of Peking, war clouds have once more been hovering over the Far East. There is fortunately no reason to suppose that the clash was premeditated, and it seems equally clear that Japan is sincere in her desire for a peaceful settlement. But that is not enough to remove the element of danger. A settlement will only be a settlement in the eyes of Japan if it includes, not only an abject Chinese apology, but a further substantial concession to the Japanese policy, inaugurated two years ago, of nibbling away the slender ties which still unite the five northern provinces to the central authority at Nanking. The withdrawal of Chinese troops from the scene of last Thursday's fracas is the first and most essential of the Japanese demands (there are rumours that a local Chinese commander has already signed a paper accepting it) ; and if the retiring troops are replaced by a Japanese garrison, Japan will command the Peking- Hankow railway, one of the two trunk lines to the south. Meanwhile Japanese reinforcements are pouring into Hopei. The next word appears to lie with the sorely tried Nanking Government. Can General Chiang Kai-shek afford once more to swallow the pill ? If he refuses, and threatens, will Japan call his bluff ? Or is Japan herelf bluffing? Unhappily, Japan has reason to believe that Soviet military power has been, temporarily at any rate, paralysed by the recent executions in Moscow and elsewhere, and this belief is probably stiffening her attitude.
