The Wilmington morning star., 1946-04-21
Looti1,g OF Manchuria
BY RODNEY GILBERT

Chlna mas accepted the Sovlet-RusSian pro-
posals Tor the evacuation oe Russian armed
forces from Manchuria; but it is very evident
from the comment of American RF correapon-
dents in both Chungking and Mukden that the
Chinese Government is neither confident nor
happy about the state of the vast territory
which Chinese armies and officials are now
free to occupy. Their chances of governing it
in way that will yield China any of the
| advantages that it should nave had from it's
recovery, or of governing it in a way that
will not afford the Soviet Union excuses for
| armed intervention at Moscow's discretion are
| decidedly slim.
| There IS no use saying that Russian military
! occupation was prolonged with the deliberate
purpose Of giving the Chinese Government
impossible task in Manchuria, because
that cannot be proved; but there can be no
doubt that while there are valid excuses for
the slow withdrawal-weather and the diff
Guilty the Chinese have had in getting troops
into the eastern provinces-there is no accept
able excuse Tor the use that the Russians have
made of their extra time
They nave stripped the territory of its in
! dustrlal machinery, even Wrecking buildings
in some instances to get some of it out This
they admit when submitting the excuse that
this equipment was Japanese and therefore
legitimate military loot Perhaps the major
part OF the equipment taken was installed by
the Japanese between 1881 and 1945. The best
equipped metal working plant in all China was
the Mukden arsenal. When the Japanese seized
it In 1881, it one of the greatest arsenals
in the world. Chang Tso-lin financed it's equip
ment by buying soy beans from the Man
churlan Chinese with paper money and selling
them abroad for hard cash.
1t may be hard to prove that most of wat
ever machinery the Japanese set up in Man
churia was paid for through the exploitation
Of the native population, but everyone knows
it was. Morally, the industrial set-up was the
property Of the Manchurian people, and Rus
sia cannct claim that they were an enemy peo
pie. China has painful need OF both the heavy
products and the consumer goods which those
factory hands in Manchrian cities have need
of the employment they afforded. Russia is
now turning over country that is set back
| to 1905 industrially.
| Famine conditions prevail in many parts of
China. Manchuria is the biggest producer of
surplus food in East Asia If the Russians had
opened up sea communications with the ports
and rail communication with Ncrth China the
famine situation in north central China could
have been eased long ago. But the Russian
press has rejoiced in the plenty that eastern
Siberia is enjoying because of food brought
out of Manchuria and bought with paper money
printed in Russia-secured on what and where
redeemable?
| Before the Japanese surrender, the Chinese
| Communists claimed no great force in Man
churia; only scattered guerrilla bands with
small arms At the end OF eight months Rus
sian occupation, they claim an organized force
OF 300, 900 effectives-rnore than they had in
| all China year ago, according to competent
| military observers, and from one area it is
reported that their divisions are fully equipped
with surrendered Japanese weapons, right up
to heavy artillery. This Improvement in their
position has been made while the Russian
army was in complete control of Japanese pris-
oners and of all communications, and while
the Chinese Governments appointed officials in
the administrative centers were IN what
amounted to protective custody
Mancnufla was never easy to police. Except
Tor the south where the Chinese have been
long established, it is~pioneer country with a
rough and ready population, drawn mostly
from northeast China during the past 35 years
by the lure of good cheap land The extension
OF the Siberian railway across Manchuria at
laws and deserters into the country who Joined
up with Chinese bandits to from great bodies
OF efficient marauders known as Hunghutze
(Red Beards) Neither the big native armies
OF Chang Iso-ln who had bandit BACKGROUND
nor Japan's garrison forces which once num-
bered at least half million, have ever done
more than force the Hunghutze to base their
| operations on a1lnly populated forest country
Even the law-abiding Manchurians do not like
and do not want to be governed by southern
Chinese and WI lend willing ears to the pro-
paganda which the Communists are now max
ing Tor high degree of local autonomy
Plainly enough, the Reds hope to be the
custodlans of it. Thanks to the long and rigidly
exclusive Russian occupation, they have been
put in position to bargain for it, when the
Chungking representatives on the truce teams,
arrive, with all the cards in their handsome
OF the trumps being continued Russian man.
agement OF the trunk railways, over which the
governments armies must move to deal with
any situation. whether bandit, communist, or
autonomous.
There isn't feature of this situation that
was not anticipated in street conversation in
Chungking that morning in August when the
terms q the new Sino-Russan treaty-conced
ed to Generalissimo Stain at Yalta always
remember-were first published in the c.hiness
press.-Christian Science Monitor.
RarhS