Evening star., 1944-11-28
Letters to The Star !,
A Defense of Chunskins Regime
Against Communists of China


70 the Editor Of The Star:
To those intimately acquainted with
China who value moderation and essen
tial truth above either sentimentality or
passion, your wise editorial of Novem-
Der 81 and the article by Constantine
Brown in the issue Of November % must
have given great satisfaction.
Both critical moderation and historic
fact have been sadly lost sight of in
the wave of denunciation which swept
through the country's editorial columns
following Gen. Stilwell's return Now
some measure of reflective inquiry is be-
ginning to take its place.
Mr.. Brown points up one nearly for
gotten fact when he AYERS that the
China dilemma currently is recognized
to be primarily one of military supply
rather than wholly political You, edi-
torially, point up another when you say
that "the overriding fact remains that
Chang Kai-shek has never ceased to
resist the Japanese, that he has turned
deaf ear to many attractive peace
offers, and that China which has been
bled white is still in the war today"
j There is another essential fact, at
which you hint: II Ito quote your
words "he and some of his generals
have resisted the modernization of the
Chinese Army for fear that the army
might threaten their own hold on
China" E. it is important to us to know
tnat their" de, the national govern
ments) hold on China means the sole
hope of a democratic China versus a
communistic regime; and that univer-
sally conscripted army Incorporating
the present independent Red forces in
the Chinese Northwest would mean
(after Victory, even perhaps before) the
certainty of military coup which might
we'll be disastrous to the Republic of
China which Chang and Chungking
represent. This is simple fact which
one ought to be able to state without
belittling the valor of the Chinese Red
Army versus Japan or the sincerity and
magnificent achievement of our present
Russian Allies versus Germany.
Communists Not Political
1t unfortunately is easy for us, in our
established democracy, to talk of "the
rightful recognition of all parties" and
OF national solidarity. The Chinese Com
munist party is not a political party as
we know such; it is a self-constituted
seeding government, giving no allie
glance to the central government, print
ing its own currency. maintaining its
own educational (indoctrination) system
and Its own separate army, and being
committed to the overthrow bv force.
not OF mere political administration
but OF a whole philosophy and a con-
stituted system of government It that
which the revolution of 1911 sought to
establish. 1t is the legacy of the troubled
early years of the Sun Yat-sen revolu-
tion, when Soviet Russia, then under the
spell OF world revolution, sought to cap
ture that democratic movement for
Its own. The Communist-Ku mintane
blood feud is the legacy of the bitter in
ternal warfare of 1926 and after which
the Japanese aggression interrupted.
Republican China cannot afford or be
expected to regard it as secondary even
10 the fight against Japan itself-it is
equally fateful to her continued exist
ence, and as wartime problem must be
weighed and met equally by her hard
pressed leaders.
To us and to our military strategists
Tor whom naturally enough the defeat of
Japan seems all in all, this issue may
seem secondary and its obstructive
prominence infuriating. We, and they.
need to realize the vital fact that it is
almost as important to us as to China
whether we are to face the postwar
era with potentially strong and demo-
cratic friend in East Asia or with chaos
and Communism dominating the Pacific
scene.
E. G. and CRAIGHILL HANDY