Evening star., 1950-01-23
Russiu in Asiu


In replying to Secretary AcneSonS fecenV
charge that Russia is attaching" to itself
huge areas of Northern China, Soviet For
eign Minister Vishinsky has used Language.
angry and sputtering enough to suggest
that the Kremlin has been hit in sensi-
tive spot In the tone of a man fairly livid
with rage because of having been called to
account for some sub rosa wrong-doing,
he has branded the charge as "mon-
strous" lie with mot word of truth in
it-"a slanderous smokescreen" designed to
cover up "the failure of American policy
in Asia" Then, like hard-pressed defense
attorney who shouts in an effort to disguise
his lack of good argument, he has cited
the record of his country as proof positive
that Mr. Acheson is nothing but mali
cious prevaricator.
But it is because of that very record that
the jury in this casa jury made up OF
the free world-has much more faith in Mr..
Achesons veracity than in Mr.. Vishinsky's.
For the Soviet Union, particularly since the
end of the war, has been so busily attach
ing" territory to itself, in both Europe and
Asia that only the blind or the naive will
believe that 1t is not in the process of doing
the same thing in Northern China. At the
moment it's imperialistic covetousness in
that region may not be taking the form of
outright and total physical absorption Of
the sort that has destroyed Latvia, Lithu-
ania and Estonia, but we can be certain Of
this much: That the Kremlin, by indirec-
ton at least is Tightening it's economic and
strategic grip on the most important of
the Chinese areas and that it is sparing no
effort to convert the whole country into
a satellite rigidly tied to it by way of the
Communist regime at Peiping.
Actions speak louder than words. MIR.
Vishinsky, no matter how thunderously he
shouts, cannot talk away the fact that the
Soviet Union has annexed the Baltic states;
is using the device Of puppet governments
to retain an iron grip on once-independent
countries like Poland, Romania, Bulgaria,
Hungary and Czechoslovakia; is already
entrenched in parts of Manchuria, and
undoubtedly is doing everything possible
to insure that the Chinese Communists will
be ubservient-enough so to acquiesce in
measures designed not merely to give the
Kremlin q special hold on Northern China
but also to promote the spread of its
dominance throughout Asia. That is the
main objective of the negotiations now be-
ing carried out in Moscow with Mao TIE
tung, the leader of the Peiping Reds-a
regime which conceivably may have Titoist
potentialities but which the Russians can
be counted upon to try riveting to them
selves with the greatest thoroughness.
Indeed, the fact that they are now en-
gagged in that riveting process may account
for the enraged tone of Mr.. vishinsky's reply
to Mr.. Acheson. At this particular stage,
with negotiations under way and with the
masses Of China still profoundly resistant
to foreign domination or imperialism of
every. kind, the Russians may well be
acutely sensitive to having their aims ex-
posed The applicant could be upset for
! them If Mr.. Acheson's charge could be
made to sink into the minds of the Chinese
people, who in any circumstance are likely
to prove much less manageable than the
other peoples behind the Iron Curtain. This
is point that may help explain why Mr..
Vishinsky has countered the charge with
extravagant aid highly agitated language.