Soft Words, Hard Facts

Returning from a talk in Washington with Undersecretary of State Phillips last week, smiling Ambassador Katsuji Debuchi received U. S. reporters and announced:

"Japan regards the Great Wall as a definite boundary between the State of Manchukuo and China proper. . . . The Japanese troops now south of the Great Wall will return to Manchukuo shortly. The Japanese Army has no intention of advancing into the Peiping-Tientsin area."

Here were soft words for U. S. consumption. Reporters in China were faced by a much harder array of facts:

After a bloody battle, Japanese troops mashed their way into Miyun, 50 mi. from Peiping. At one point the Japanese advance reached Tungchow, only 13 mi. from Peiping's walls. To the east, Japanese troops were nearing Lutai, 40 mi. from Tientsin. Unaware of Ambassador Debuchi's statement, an official spokesman for General Kotaro Nakamura, commander of the Japanese garrison in Tientsin, announced:

"If the Chinese do not show signs of reasonableness, our army must necessarily continue beyond Peiping and Tientsin, and occupy Paotingfu [80 mi. from both] and points even further southward."

New York Times Correspondent Hallett Abend reported that the following message had been handed foreign diplomats in Peiping:

''Unless responsible Chinese agree to our terms without equivocation, without further delay and without new major attacks, we will occupy Peiping and Tientsin at once."

U. S. Minister to China Nelson Trusler Johnson issued formal warning to U. S. citizens last week to withdraw from the North China war zone to the safety of the international settlements. (In the war zone are 1,540 U. S. civilians, $25,000,000 worth of U. S. property.)

From South China the Canton Government screamed that Marshal Chiang Kai-shek of Nanking had sold out to Japan, bartering promises of a pro-Japanese State in North China for peace. Under banners blazoned RECOVER OUR MOUNTAINS AND RIVERS two divisions went north from Canton including two brigades of the famed 19th Route Army, heroes of the defense of Shanghai last year.

In Nanking. Chiang Kai-shek promptly described the Canton expedition as "futile." There were other facts to suggest some truth in the Cantonese charges. General Hwang Fu, generally considered friendly to Japan, rushed to Peiping as an emissary from Chiang, presumably to dicker for peace. Word reached Tientsin last week of a Chinese army marching parallel to and cooperating with the Japanese troops. Its commander is a General Li Lichen who raised the old five-barred flag, first flag of the Chinese Republic, in Chinwangtao in March, is supposed to have been picked by Japan to head still another North China puppet state. This one's name would be HOPEIKUO.

Fortnight ago one Japanese plane circled over Peiping, dropping propaganda leaflets (TIME, May 22). Last week the plane was back with ten brothers. Flying in 5-3-3 formation they roared so low over the brown tiles of the city that Peiping citizens could clearly see the full racks of gleaming bombs under their fuselages. After one look some streaked for cover underground, some stood frozen in their tracks waiting for the first explosion. None came. The planes returned to the Japanese aircraft carrier Kamoi anchored off Tangku, risking the ship and their own lives by landing with bomb racks still full. Next day they repeated the performance over Tientsin.

Chinese Military Governor Yu Hsueh-chung of Tientsin had a hard week. Within the city anti-Chiang troops broke into open rebellion which was put down only after a declaration of martial law. To protect the city from looters Governor Yu was forced to lock the gates, open fire with his artillery on Chinese deserters streaming back before the Japanese advance.

"I won't make Tientsin a smoking shambles like the environs of Shanghai last year," said General Yu. "If the Japanese want to take the city they may do so."

Then came news that General Ho Ying-ching had ordered China's troops to evacuate ancient Peiping. This sounded like an overture to save the city from demolition. The troops of Japanese General Hattori, subordinate of Field Marshal Muto who, as commandant of Japan's expeditionary force was "given his head" by the Tokyo War Office last fortnight, pressed on intent on their sure goal, rich Peiping, heart of North China. Their officers' separate negotiations with various Chinese generals for a breakdown of the whole Chinese resistance and morale were revealed by Lieut.-General Nakamura at Tientsin: "We had arranged many tentative truces with many individual Generals, but not a single agreement had been kept."

As Peiping and Tientsin came into their hands, Japan's statesmen mused over a remark in the House of Commons by peace-loving James Ramsay McDonald. Asked if the Japanese were "at liberty to occupy the whole Chinese territory without the prospect of incurring protests," Britain's Prime Minister ejaculated: "Certainly not!"

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.