Evening star., 1943-09-14
Chinus New President

Committee of the Kuomintang, Gen.
eralissimo Chang Kai-shek has
been elected President of China to
succeed the late Doctor Lin Sen.
Until Doctor Sen died recently, it
is probable that large section of
the Western World considered the
Generalissimo the head of the Chi
nese state. Yet, in China itself, the
late President occupied an honored
if politically inconspicuous place.
Doctor Lin Sen was, in both appear
ance and character, the typical Chi
nese sage. With his benign mein
and venerable beard, he might have
posed for a legendary portrait of
Confucius. His election typified
China's aspirations for harmonious
blend of its ancient civilization and
culture with the modernity which
has come through the impact of
Western ideas and methods.
But China's grim struggle for ma
tional existence has compelled it to
subordinate everything to its men of
action rather than of thought and
culture. Therefore, the Central Ex-
ecutive Committee has recognized
the stern realities of China's situa-
ton by revising the national or
ganic law to permit the presidency
and the supreme command of its
armed forces to be held by the same
person. Thus, Chang Kai-shek be-
comes the political as well as the
military head Of the Chinese Re-
public in its decisive struggle against
Japanese domination.
This concentration of executive
authority is conferred by the party
which already monopolizes political
control. China is a one-party coun-
try, no constitutional opposition to
the Kuomintang being provided for.
However, this has always been con-
sidered a provisional arrangement,
necessitated by the revolutionary
phase through which the nation is
passing. That was emphasized by
the Central Committees announce
ment at the same session which
elected Chang Kai-shek to the
presidency that the present system
Of Kuomintang political tutelage, or
one-party rule, would end q year
after the conclusion of the war and
that a convention would then meet
to draft and adopt constitution on
democratic lines.
In his address to the Central Com
mittee, the new President touched
frankly upon Chinas chief domestic
political problem. This is the ex-
istence of Communist party with
which the Koumintang was openly
at war until the japanese invasion,
and which ever since has led an
anomalous existence that continu-
ally threatens q resumption of civil
strife. Early in the war with Japan,
the Communists agreed to dissolve
their political organization and in
corporate their Red army with the
national forces. But the agreement
has never been carried out A large
area in Northwestern China is under
Communist control, backed by Red
forces which retain their own organi-
zation and command. Soviet Russia
has always evinced an interest in the
Chinese Communists, and recently
Russian agent returned from China
wrote an article in leading Moscow
periodical criticizing the Kuomin-
tang's attitude and policy toward the
Chinese Communists. Chang Kali
shek's statement to the Central
Committee on this issue, while firm,
was conciliatory.
This apparently indicates an in
tention to continue the present COM
promise policy and an avoidance of
measures which might cause renewed
tension between the two parties.
Certainly nothing could be more
undesirable from the standpoint of
China's western allies than domestic
strife at a moment when national
unity against the Japanese invader
Is pre- -eminently needed.