Evening star., 1950-01-13

out of abstract in the Department
Of State or in the White House or
in the Congress. That is not the
case.
If these policies are going to be
good, they must grow out of the
fundamental attitudes of our people
on both sides. If they are to be
effective they must become artic-
ulate through all the institutions of
our national life, of which this is
one of the greatest-through the
press, through the radio, through
the churches, through the labor
unions, through the business Or
ganizations, through all the group
tngs of our national life, there
must become articulate the attitudes
of our people and the policies which
we propose to follow.
Now, let's consider some of the
basic factors which go into the
making of the attitudes of the peo-
pies on both sides. I am frequently
asked: Has the State Department
got an Asian policy? And it seems
to me that that discloses such a
depth of ignorance that it is very
hard to begin to deal with it. The
peoples of Asia are so incredibly
diverse and their problems are so
incredibly diverse that how could
anyone, even the most utter char
latan believe that he had a uniform
policy which would deal with all of
them. On the other hand, there
are very important similarities in
Ideas and in problems among the
peoples of Asia and so what we
come to, after we understand these
dlversitieS and these common atti-
tudeS of mind, is the fact that there
must be certain similarities of ap-
proach and there must be very
great dissimilarities in action. -" =
Let's come now to the matters
which Asia has in common. There
Is in this vast area what we might
call developing Asian conscious
ness, and developing pattern, and
this, I think, is based upon two
factors which are pretty nearly
common to the entire experience of
all these Asian people.
One of these factors is a revulsion
against the acceptance of misery
and poverty as the normal condition
OF life. Throughout all of this vast
area, you have that fundamental
revolutionary aspect in mind and
belief. The other common aspect
that they have is the revulsion
against foreign domination. Wheth-
er that foreign domination takes
the form of colonialism or whether
1t takes the form of imperialism.
they are through with it. They
have had enough of it, and they
want no more.
The symbol of these concepts has
become nationaliSm. National in
dependence has become the SYM
Dol both of freedom from foreign
domination and freedom from the
tyranny of poverty and misery. -
Now, may I suggest to you that
much of the bewilderment which
has seized the minds of many of
us about recent developments in
China comes from a failure to un-
derstand this basic revolutionary
force which is loose in Asia. The
reasons for the fall of the Nation
alist Government. in China are pre-
occupying many people. All sorts
of reasons have been attributed to
1t. Most commonly it is said in
various speeches and publications
that it is the result of American
bungling, that we are incompetent,
that we did not understand, that
American aid was too little, that
we did the wrong things at the
wrong time.
The broad picture IS that after
the war, Chiang-Kaishek emerged
as the undisputed leader of the
Chinese people. Only one faction,
the Communists. up in the hills, ILL
equipped, ragged, very small mill
tary force, was determinedly op-
posed to his position. He had
overwhelming military power,
greater military power than any
ruler had ever had in the entire
history of China. He had tremend-
GUS economic and military support
and backing from the United
States, He had the acceptance of
all other foreign countries, whether
sincerely or insincerely in the case
of the Soviet Union.
Here he was in this position and
four years later what do we find
We find that his armies have
melted away. His support in the
country has melted away. His sup
port largely outside the country has
melted away, and he is a refugee
on small island off the coast of
China, with the remnants of his
forces.
As I said, no one says that
vast armies moved out of the hills
and defeated him. To attribute this
to the inadequacy of American aid
is only to point out the depth and
power of the forces which were mis-
calculated or ignored. What has
happened in my judgment is that
the almost ineXhaustible patience OF
the Chinese people in their misery
ended. They did not bother to over
throw this government. There was
really nothing to overthrow. They
simply ignored it throughout the
country. They took the solution o.
their immediate village problem,
into their own hands.
If there was any trouble or in.
reference with the representative
of the government, they sinpl,
brushed them aside. They complete
ly withdrew their support from thi
government and when that supper
was withdrawn, the whole militar,
establishment disintegrated. Addec
to the grossest incompetence eve
experienced by any military com
mand was this total lack of sup
port, both in the armies and in tn
country, and so the whole matte
just simply disintegrated.
Rode Condition Into Power.
The Communists did not Great
this. The Communists did not ere
ate this condition. They did no
create this revolutionary spirit. The
did not create a great force whicl
moved out from under Chang Kai
shek. But they were shrewd an
cunning To mount it. to rid