After Russia has
replaced Germany in the territories lost by Germany and Austria,
she will hold a controlling influence in Europe, and, for a long
time to come, will have nothing to fear from her western frontier.
Immediately after the war she will make an effort to carry out her
policy of expansion in the East and will not relax that effort
until she has acquired a controlling influence in China. At the
same time Great Britain will strengthen her position in the
Yangtsze Valley and prohibit any other country from getting a
footing there. France will do likewise in Yunnan province using it
as her base of operations for further encroachments upon China and
never hesitate to extend her advantages. We must therefore
seriously study the situation remembering always that the combined
action of Great Britain, Russia, and France will not only affect
Europe but that we can even foresee that it will also affect
China.
Whether this combined action on the part of England, France and
Russia is to terminate at the end of the war or to continue to
operate, we can not now predict. But after peace in Europe is
restored, these Powers will certainly turn their attention to the
expansion of their several spheres of interest in China, and, in
the adjustment, their interests will most likely conflict with one
another. If their interests do not conflict, they will work
jointly to solve the Chinese Question.
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