The League and the Sino-Russian Dispute

Report Outline
League Machinery for Prevention of War
The Kellogg Pact and The Sino-Russian Dispute

The Tenth Assembly of the League of Nations will convene at Geneva, Monday, September 2, 1929. The Council of the League will meet on August 30, three days in advance of the larger body, and will remain in practically continuous session until the adjournment of the Tenth Assembly, toward the end of September.

Elation at these meetings over the world-wide acceptance since the last Assembly of the terms of the Kellogg pact, the recent progress made in Anglo-American negotiations on reduction of naval armaments, and the improved prospects for early adherence by the United States to the Statute of the World Court, will be tempered by the concern felt by the delegates over the events of the last six weeks in Manchuria-“the danger spot of Asia”-where the interests of three great nations clash.

The dispute between Russia and China growing out of the seizure by Manchurian authorities on July 10, 1929, of the Russian share in control of the Chinese Eastern Railway, and the border raids that have followed, are recognized as presenting a first test of the effectiveness of the Kellogg pact, and a probable test of the machinery of the League of Nations for the preservation of peace when war between powerful neighbors is threatened. China is a member of the League; Russia is not-and in general has maintained a hostile attitude toward the Geneva organization. Russia and China both are signatories of the Kellogg pact, and on July 22 it was announced by the American State Department that both had given assurances that “there will be no hostilities unless the other side is the aggressor,”