Evening star., 1948-11-07

man. He went to China with the
task of patching up the differences
between the Nationalists and Com
munists in order to form coalition
government, thus putting an end
to the civil war and permitting the
economic and political reconstruct
ton of China.
Marshall Sought Harmony
The State Departments Far East
ern Division had sold the idea. to
both the President and Gen. Mar
shall. that this could be achieved
easily if certain amount of pres
sure was exercised on the reaction
ary Gen. Chang by Gen. Marshall.
The new Ambassador was imbued
with the Good Samaritan spirit and
believed that he could patch up the
breach between the Nationalists and
Communists by forcing Gen.
Chiang's hand and by using media
ton to terminate the civil war.
This mission was Gen. Marshalrs
first real failure. Although Gen.
Chang was willing to accept some
Communists in his government, 1t
soon became apparent that the
Communists, represented at Man,
king by Gen. Chou En-lai, wanted
complete control over the admins
tration of China.
The situation became even worse
when Gen.. Marshall suggested a
truce, to be supervised by teams of
American, Chinese Nationalist and
Chinese Communist officers. This
worked to the advantage of the
Communists, who encouraged fight
ing in areas where they had the
upper hand and could still win VIC
tories, while adhering faithfully to
Gen. Marshau's terms wherever the
Nationalist were in superiority.
Meanwhile the Russians, who
rushed their forces into Manchuria
after brief skirmish with japanese
forces, began looting the country
and taking to Siberia most Of the
important and modern factories the
Japanese government had installed
in Manchuia since 1888.
Arms Given to 'Reformers'
The forces of Gen. Mao were
reorganized Immediately by Russian
staff oficers-despite State Depart
ment denials that it had any tan
gible proof of this-and substantial
amounts of war material which had
been captured from the Japanese
were turned over by the Russians to
the "agrarian reformers," who here-
tofore were short of military equip
mellt and other supplies.
The Communists began to inf1l.
trate into Northern China and Man.
churia. In the winter of 1916 the
Russians decided to live up to their
agreements with Gen. Chang and
began to evacuate Manchuria. Gen.
Chang sent his trained
divisions to take over in Manchuria,
but he encountered great difficulties
in the lack of winter clothing for
his troops and of the means to
transport them.
The Nationalist forces we're met
by Communist force which re-
sisted their efforts to take over
from the Russians. The National-
lists won some victories, but Gen.
Chang lost some of his best divi.
sions in that guerrilla warfare.
Meanwhile, Gen. Marshall, rked
by his defeat in his first venture
into the diplomatic field, left China
with his mission unfulfilled and
returned to the United States in
bitter mood because Gen. Chang,
in his opinion, had been the cause
of his humiliation. Before leaving
Nanking to become Secretary OF
State he issued orders that the
S500,000, 900 earmarked by the Ex-
port-Import Bank for loan to the
Marking government be Cancelled.
At the same time the State De-
partment, under the pretext of fol-
lowing the advice of President Tru-
mans special Ambassador to China,
refused to issue licenses for the
export of war materials to Nanking.
even when the Chinese were willing
to pay for them out of their gold
reserves abroad.
u. S. Aid Cut Off Materially
President Roosevelt's pledges that
we would continue to provide China
with war materials were junked
without ceremony. After 1916 and
until a few weeks ago only a pitt
fully small amount of war material
was permitted to trickle to China,
in spite of President Truman's de-
sires and Congress decision to pro-
vide the Nationalist forces with the
means to suppress the Communist
threat. What we did send was
almost completely useless for the
kind of warfare Gen. Chiang's troops
had to wage against the Communist
guerrillas.
The Nationalist army became
weaker as the Communists became
stronger. Washington continued its
underground work of sabotaging the
Chang government.
The complete rout of the National.
ist armies in Manchuria, which was
the direct result of our failure to
live up to the promises made by our
government, has placed them in a
difficult strategic position, according
to our military and some political
observers.
We Go not know when or whether
the Russians will decide to trans
form the present cold war into a