The International Problem in China
THE international problem in China is as perplexing as ever. Not one of the Powers knows what is the best thing to do. And only one of the Powers—Germany—seems to know certainly what she will do. Germany knows that she is going to stay in Peking, for the present anyhow. Russia presented a proposal that she would leave—not China, but—Peking, if the other Powers would do so. The United States caught this as a cue, and presented to the world the proposition; but neither Germany nor Britain would trust Russia, and so the scheme could not carry. It is therefore settled just now that the Powers will all stay in Peking; but what for, and what they shall do there, no one of them knows. The pretense presented by the United States for staying is “to protect her interests and the native Christians.” But what call she has to protect native Christians in China, any more than in Russia or the Philippines, nobody has explained. But the United States setting herself up as the special champion of Christians in China, or anywhere else, is another distinct and long stride in the making of the Image of the Beast. For how long shall she be the special champion of Christians abroad before she will be the same thing at home?