Evening star., 1952-08-19
What's Up in Moscow?

since they are cOnSplratorS whose actions
are based on secret covenants secretly arrived
at, the outside world can do little more than
make guesses over just why the Russian and
Chinese Communists are holding high-level
meeting in Moscow. The development opens up
wide range of speculation, but only the unfold
ing of events themselves is likely to reveal it's
true meaning, whether omnouS or not.
AS far as the public record shows, the last
such meeting took place in late 1949 and early
1850, when a Chinese delegation headed by Mao
Tze-tung spent several weeks in the Russian
capital negotiating the 3O-year Sino-Soviet
treaty of friendship, alliance and mutual assist
ance. From the standpoint of the free world,
probably the most important provision of the
treaty-whose signing was followed by the
Korean war less than six months later-is the
one under which the Kremlin and Red Peiping
are pledged to offer each other immediate military
aid in case either is attacked by Japan or any
country Associated" with Japanese aggression.
Conceivably, therefore, the new get-together in
Moscow could have something to do with acti-
waiting that pledge in order to increase Russias
intervention against our American and allied
United Nations forces in Korea.
But such an ominous possibility-which
could precptate a general war-seemS rather
remote at the moment. This is so because of
evidence that the enemy in Korea has little to
gain from the present deadlock, Is being hurt
by our air operations, appears to lack the where
withal to launch major new offensive, and
accordingly really wants an armistice, even
though he is putting on show Of tough intran-
sigence. In the circumstances, 1t may well be
that the Chinese delegation-which is headed
by Premier and Foreign Minister Chou En-lai-
is in Russia not to talk about intensifying and
expanding the struggle, but to hear what the
Kremlin has to say about establishing firm
MoScow-Pe Peipng -Pyongyang party line in prepa-
ration for agreement on truce and for the
program to be followed thereafter in continuing
Communist effort to subvert and dominate the
whole of ASIA
In any event, the makeup of the Chinese
delegation suggests that decisions for spectacular
Communist military action in Korea are not in
the making at this time. For the group is made
up largely of political and economic specialists
q fact indicating that the main purpose Of the
meeting may be to deal with such matters as
the following: Cd Relations with Japan under
the peace treaty which neither Peiping nor
Moscow have signed; (2) measures to offset the
effects of the Vests trade restrictions; CD
effectuation of the 1850 Soviet pledge to hand
over to Red China, at date no later than the
end of 1852, all rights to the Changchun Railway
in Southern Manchuria, plus control OF Port
Arthur and Dairen; and "a proposal that the
Kremlin should extend to the Mao regime credits
considerably larger than the loan of $500 million
agreed upon two years ago-a loan which has not
come even close to making up for Russia's
tremendous Manchurian looting after the
japanese surrender.
Actually on some of these issues serious
Sino-Soviet disagreement is not unthinkable
After all, historically, cuturally, economically
and otherwise, there is greater natural incom-
patibility between China and Russia than between
Yugoslavia and Russia, and an eventual Titoist
rebellion over there is by no means out of the
question. Wishful as the guess may be, it is
not impossible that the Moscow meeting is
designed in part to destroy the seeds of estrange
ment between the worlds two main centers of
Communist power.