CHINA: Fusion

A significant and potentially important event took place last week in China: The two Nationalist governments, which have, since the split* last spring (TIME, March 28) functioned at Hankow and Nanking, united as a single government at Nanking. The new government, which holds sway only in territory to the south of Nanking, is controlled by a commission of five. In addition there are two councils, one on education, the other on military affairs, as well as a cabinet. This new regime marks the beginning of a new future for the Nationalist cause, i. e., the unificationof China under a single democratic and Nationalist government, but how bright that future is with strong Northern forces dominating it, none can predict. It marks, too, a definite break with Moscow and Bolshevism and leaves the movement apparently free of internal dissension.

*The split occurred soon after General Chiang Kai-Shek captured Shanghai. An attempt was made to wrest power from the victorious general who evaded the move by setting up an independent regime at Nan king and denouncing the government at Hankow as bolshevist.