Evening star., 1950-01-16
No Political Gain Seen
Now by COP. Stand
On Formosa Policy
More Popular Position
Suggested in Pressing
For Cut i'm Aid to Europe
By David Laprence

Examined solely as an adven-
ture in politics. the attitude of
those Republicans who are pro-
posing that Formosa be used as
means of aiding the Nationalist
government in China has caused
a considerable amount of bewil-
derment.
Strictly speaking, if political
precedents are to be needed, the
Republicans are on the wrong side
OF the argument. Instead of urg-
ing measures that could conceiva-
bly, lead to trouble of a military
sort, they should be the ones call
ing for "hands-off" and non-in-
volvement.
To put it another way, the
Democrats in the Senate and the
Truman administration are on
the popular side. The hands
off" and 'let-them-s in their
own-juice" doctrines are really
'isolationist" as they used to be
known in the 1920s and this posi-
ton, politically speaking, was
strong enough to influence the
Democratic as we'll as the Re-
publican Parties for long time
prior to the outbreak of World
War II.
AS a matter of fact, Japan
might never have gone to war
with the United States in 1941 if
her militarists ~had not been so
stupid as to make an attack on
American territory at Pearl Har-
Dor. Had the Japanese stuck to
the Far East and Southeast Asia
and let the Philippines alone,
they might have succeeded in
their aggressive march toward
Singapore without involving Amer
ica.
Would Need Allies.
AS far back as 1915, Count Won
Bernstorff, the German ambassa-
dor in Washington, told this cor
respondent of prediction made
to him by President Theodore
Roosevelt that the United States
never would go to war with any
body solely over the problems of
China. This attitude of hands
off in a. military way persisted
through other administrations.
What it really meant was that, if
America ever intervened, it would
be only as a part of an interna-
tlonal commitment such as the
Allies, including Germany, under
took in the famous Boxer expedi-
ton of Allied troops sent to rescue
nationals held captive in Peking
in 1900.
The japanese, on the other
hand. while always considering
American occupation of the
Philippines threat to their Sc
curity, need never have provoked
America. The chances are that
President Roosevelt would not
have asked Congress in 194l for
a declaration of war on Japan due
to events either in China or I
Southeast Asia. 4
Doubts If People Care.
The Republicans must know
this traditional position of the
United States and how easy it is
for the Truman administration to
revert to it. So far as arguing
that the administration has
adopted virtually a military pro-
gram to stop communism in
Greece and not in China, there
is nothing so inconsistent as in
consistency in politics. The Re-
publicans must know, too, that so
far as popular issues are con-
cerned, they can make more polit-
ical hay by urging a curtailment
of spending for Europe than by
urging increased involvement in
Formosa and the Far East gen.
orally.
1t may well be doubted, more
over, whether the average Amer
lean cares any more about China
today than he did about Europe
in the 1920s. If long-range posi-
bilities are taken into account, on
the other hand, the Republican
anti-Communist position in Far
Eastern affairs and fuss over For
mosa may pay off dividends few
years hence, politically speaking,
but it is far from intelligible now
to the folks at the crossroads of
Squash Center.