Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), Thursday 12 June 1947, page 1


China Protests To Soviet

On Invasion

NEW YORK, June 11 (A.A.P.).-The Chinese Gov-ernment is protesting to Rus-sia against the alleged violation of the border of Sinkiang Pro-vince, in the north-west.

Messages from Nanking say the Government to-day instructed its Ambassador to Moscow to protest both to the Soviet Government and to the Outer Mongolian Minister

there.

A spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Office said this indicated that China considered Russia re-sponsible for the attack on the province by á band of Mongolians.

The spokesman added: "This is no ordinary frontier incident. The Government views the matter with deep concern."

'Last night the official Chinese Central News Agency claimed that one battalion of outer Mongolian cavalry and other troops, supported by four aircraft with Soviet mark-ings, invaded Sinkiang last Thurs-day. The invaders, who had lorries loaded with ammunition, concen

trated their attack against the town of Peitashan. 117 miles from Chitan in East Sinkiang. '

?The agency said Government troops were also resisting the Mon-golians 200 miles north-west of Tihwa.

It added that aircraft accompany-ing the invaders strafed Chinese troop concentrations and bombed and strafed civilians and towns.

A United Press message from Nanking says that Government quarters view the attack as a veiled Soviet attempt to extend her in-fluence among the 600,000 Kazakhs who inhabit part of Sinkiang. Chinese Kazakhs are closely re-

lated to Russian Kazakhs.

"LOCAL CLASH"

The Nanking correspondent of Associated Press of . America, however, said to-day that he had information from reliable military observers that the whole operation was only a local clash, and not a planned operation for conquest.

He says that only two Chinese soldiers were reported killed. The clash was at Peitashan, and follow-ed a dispute over the release of eight Mongolian soldiers seized by a Chinese patrol in a previous

border clash. _ '

Sinkiang is a remote province in the north-west of China, and Gov-ernment comment on the early reports was that the region had been in continuous unrest since Outer Mongolia became independ-ent last year.