Evening star., 1951-06-04
Secretary Reviews
Internal Struggle
After Defeat Of Japs

AIItl VclcdI vi JdpS
FOLLOWING is partial teTt Of
toddy's testimony By Secretary
OF State AcheSon before a Joint
Senate inquiry into Far Eastern
policy:
Chairman Russell. Under
motion made and passed at the
last sitting Of the committee, the
Secretary of State was to make
a statement to the committee this
morning on China policy. Mr.
Secretary, you may proceed in
your own way.
Secretary AcheSon--.
Now gentlemen, I will take ad-
vantage of the kindness of the
committee in permitting me to
make a somewhat extended state
ment on United States policy in
regard to China.
should like to state at the
outset what I am going to try to
do, and that is I want to present
to the committee the problem
which confronted the United
States and China in 1945, and in
doing that I shall have to give
some of its roots in history.
I should like to point out what
the times of decision were. There
were moments in this period from
1945 on, moments of decision. and
I should like to point out those
moments. I should like to point
out the considerations which were
taken under advisement when de-
cisions were made, and 1 should
like to say what the decisions
were and how they were made.
One further preliminary OBJ
servation think is important,
and that is that American aid
cannot in itself insure the sur
vival of a recipient government or
the survival of a people that this
Government is trying to help
against aggression.
What our aid must do and can
do is to supplement the efforts
OF that recipient government and
OF that people itself. 1t cannot
be substitute for those efforts
1t can only be an aid and sup
plement to them.
Others Hold Power of Decision.
The United States Government
in aiding another government,
does not have power of decision
within that country or within
that government. That power of
decision remains with the govern
ment, the people in it. Those are
thoughts I think we should have
in mind.
With those preliminary state
mentS. we come to the problem
which faced the Chinese and
American governments in 1945.
The Japanese had been defeat
ed. The Chinese government was
in the extreme southwestern part
of China. The task which had
to be solved by the Chinese gov
eminent was, in effect, how to
create a nation, and how to have
the authority of the Chinese gov
ernment exercised throughout
that nation
Now, I do not say recreate a
nation; I say. advisedly. create a
nation: because for almost an
indefinite period in the past there
had not been in our sense a ma
ton in the territory which we call
China, and I will come to and ex-
plain to you why that is so, a
nation in the sense of govern
ment in control throughout that
area.
Therefore, the question which
had to be faced was how to create
that nation and how to create
the authority of the nation in
that area. -.
Government Lacked Authority.
The Chinese government that
we are talking about-the Nation
alist government-had not hao
authority-indeed, no Chinese
government had had authority, by
which I mean substantial author
ity-throughout China since the
period of the ManchuS.
Here is the picture which con-
fronted everybody at the time ]
am talking about. The great
northern area of China, Man
churia, was occupied by the Soviet
Union, with it's own armed forces
In the second place, the north
central and southeast parts o1
China were in the control of the
Communists and the Japanese.
I say both the Communists ane
the japanese because the Japa-
nese held the cities and the ma.
jor lines of communication;
whereas, the surrounding areas
were occupied by the Communists
That part of China included
what we call North China, swing.
ing down through Central China
LOST.