Evening star., 1951-03-25
MocArthur's Ceose-Fire Bid

III UucIllS W QlSCuSS peace III utlu Will
the commander in chief of the Communist
forces in Korea, General Macarthur has acted
in keeping with the military realities that have
placed the United Nations in position where
it can address the enemy on better-than equal
terms and propose cease-fire not because it
is weak but because 1t is strong. Beyond that,
this truce bid is at once humanitarian and
magnanimous gesture aimed at preventing
further bloodshed and enabling Red China to
eXtricate itself from situation that could
engulf it in catastrophe.
The military realities as outlined by General
Macarthur, are simply these: (1) The u N. has
substantially cleared South Korea Of organized
Communist forces; (2) our massive air and naval
bombardment of the Reds supply lines has
undermined the ability of their forward troops
to sustain operations; 60 our American and
Allied ground armies-far superior in terms Of
flrepower and better able to withstand the rigors
of climate, terrain and battle-can keep on
inficting terrible casualties on the enemy whose
human wave tactics" have definitely failed and
whose tactics of infiltraton are but contributing
to his piecemeal losses"
Further, "a despite its Exaggerated and
vaunted military power" Red China, besides
lacking even moderate air and naval strength,
just does not have the industrial capacity to
fight modern war; 60 the U. Ms superiority
Is so great in that respect that 1t cannot be
overcome by the aggressor's numerical potential,
Or by his bravery-however fanatical-or by his
most gross indifference to human loss; (6)
regardless of laboring under the self imposed
handicap of not striking at Manchuria, our
Allied forces have demonstrated the complete
inability" of the Communists to conquer Korea
by force of arms and (0--a point that implies
a solemn warning-the Peiping authorities must
hat; YTyo;t~
to depart from its tolerant effort to limit its
theater of action and expand its attack opera
tions to the coastal areas and interior bases of
their country, they would face the prospect of
being smashed into utter collapse.
In view of these and similar facts (the situa-
tion would be drastically changed, of course, If
the Soviet Union resorted to all-out intervention
in support of Communist China), General Mac
Arthur has in effect issued appeal to reason
on the assumption that the Peiping authorities
are not irrational men. Speaking in his capacity
as supreme commander of the u MS forces in
Korea, he has made clear that he stands ready
to meet at any time with his opposite number
on the enemy side in an effort to put an end
to the fighting and dying. AS he has said, if
cease-fire could be agreed upon, then the way
would be paved for an honorable diplomatic
settlement whereby the political objectives of
the United Nations in Korea, to which no nation
may justly take exceptions, might be accom-
plished without further bloodshed"
1t is worth noting that General Macarthur
in making this bid. has implicitly ruled out the
idea of linking any negotiations with extraneous
issues like Peiping's demands for Formosa and
a seat in the u N. 1t is worth noting. too that
he has been at pains to indicate that the United
Nations is as determined as ever to establish
genuinely independent and unified Korea. The
leaders of Red China now have an opportunity
to undo some of the great wrong they have done
If they take advantage of 1t, they can spare
themselves lot of grief II they reject 1t, If
they and their mentors in the Kremlin choose
to continue fighting instead the responsibility
for whatever happens thereafter will be all theirs