Ì 'S E TABLET, November 26th, i960
THE TABLET A WEEKLY NEWSPAPER AND REVIEW
PRO ECCLESIA DEI, PRO REGE ET PATRIA
VOL. 196, No. 5766
LONDON, NOVEMBER 25th, 1950
SIXPENCE
FOUNDED IN 1 8 4 0
PUBLISHED AS A NEWSPAPER
THE GROWING DOUBTS On the Track o f a False Philosophy THE AMERICANS AND THE GERMANS I I : Political Parties in a Vacuum. By Douglas Woodruff
WHO WERE THE FREEMASONS?
By A . Gordon Smith
WHY WARSAW?
The Peace Propaganda in Poland
MATISSE BUILDS A CHURCH
By Kees Van Hoek
CHINESE SHOCK TROOPS W HILE the nine representatives of the Chinese Communist Government were approaching, by slow stages, Lake Success, both in Washington and in Peiping preliminary manoeuvres were taking place, designed to prepare the psychological background for the forthcoming talks. In Washington Mr. Acheson assured the Chinese that neither the United Nations nor the United States had any ulterior designs on Manchuria, and on the next day President Truman read to his press conference a four-hundred word statement in which he declared, in deliberately solemn terms, that the Americans had no intention whatsoever o f carrying the war into China, and that they would take “any honourable step” to prevent the war from spreading.
already considerably influenced the military position o f the Korean war, which would have been over by now but for the appearance o f fresh and well equipped Chinese divisions across the Yalu river. But even if, as is hoped, the fighting remains localized, the very existence of these Chinese armies, their support to all the various anti-western movements in the neighbouring States and the constant threat th a t they might be used to their full value, counterbalance all the Western efforts to contain the Communist aggression and to restore the confidence o f the smaller Asiatic nations.
By contrast, Chinese statements and Chinese propaganda show a marked hostility : they consistently describe the war in Korea as “American aggression,” and although they are careful not to admit, officially, that regular formations of the Chinese army are fighting on Korean soil, they make it quite clear that they consider themselves bound to help their Communist neighbours to defeat the “imperialists.” The so-called Volunteer Movement, which provides the suitable cloak for Chinese intervention, is now receiving a prominent place in the Peiping propaganda : a spokesman o f the Chinese Foreign Office compared the action o f Chinese “volunteers” with Lafayette’s intervention in the American War o f Independence and with the activities of the International Brigades organized by the Communists in the Spanish Civil War; at the request o f Cheng Lan-shun, the Chairman o f the Chinese Students’ Union, a great number o f students are reported to have taken a solemn oath “ to be ready for any sacrifice for the sake o f the security o f Korea and China and to answer with grim determination the call to go to the front” ; Jenmin Jih Pao—the “People’s Daily”— describes the jo int declaration o f the Chinese political parties as an “historical document o f utmost importance and a faithful expression o f the feelings and intentions o f the 475,000,000 Chinese.” In short, the Peiping regime made it quite clear, as a preliminary to the forthcoming negotiations, that it considers itself to be threatened by the “American aggression” and that, therefore, it is a party in the Korean war.
This is the paramount reality which the United Nations must face. Whether the Chinese Communists are recognized or not, whether their soldiers in North Korea call themselves regular troops or volunteers and whether the zeal with which the Peiping Government take the anti-western stand is genuine or dictated by their masters in the Kremlin, the fact remains that Mao Tse-tung’s army appears on the Korean scene and becomes a powerful factor in the dispute ; it has
This is a great success for Russian policy, and the critics o f the Far Eastern policy of the United States, as well as the critics o f the British foreign policy, can always and rightly point out that some grave mistakes must have been committed in Washington and in London if such a situation was allowed to develop so soon after a war from which the Western democracies emerged victorious and endowed with overwhelming strength. Today, however, they are locked in a conflict in which they seem to be heavily outnumbered, committed to fighting defensive battles on a number o f distant fronts and spending their money and their military strength in local contests which cannot bring any final decision, while their opponent keeps his main resources intact. We have read this week that the French Government, faced with a steadily deteriorating situation in Indo-China, decided to despatch strong reinforcements o f men and material to bolster the 150,000 French troops now fighting the Communist Vietminh forces. In Malaya strong contingents o f British troops are tied down by the fight with the Communist terrorists; in the Philippines Communist bands, operating in the hills, made it impossible for the Government to despatch the contingents which were destined for Korea. Fighting through Asiatics
The Russians, on the other hand, keep their forces out of any direct commitments. They fight the French in Indo-China, yet they fight them with Vietminh troops, just as they fight the British with Chinese in Malaya and the Americans with the North Koreans and now with the Chinese. A few days ago General Bradley confessed that a t the present stage of speedy rearmament Korea alone was constituting a severe strain on American resources and placing the security o f the Western world in jeopardy. By contrast the Russian Generals can congratulate themselves for having the entire huge machinery o f the Red Army intact and in the enviable position of a reserve-force which, if it is ever used, will be fresh, while the opponent will be already tired, and which, even without being used, is a great factor o f power. Napoleon’s strength was drained away by the Spanish ulcer, and the Soviet is creating a whole series o f ulcers for us in Asia.
