Evening star., 1953-05-16
Red China and the II. N.


The latest flareup on the Senate floor
offers only a tiny foretaste of the storm that
will break if and when the time comes to vote
on admitting Red China to the United Nations
with seat on the Security Council
Small wonder that the President tried to
talk around this issue when the question was
raised at his press conference! If he had said
Red China should be admitted, he would have
brought down upon his head the wrath of the
Senate, and, one may suspect the wrath of
the people. If he had said Red China should
not be admitted, he would have taken position
which might have become impossible to main
tain. Even his cautious reSponse-that he
would not say at this moment that admittance
should follow an armistice-was enough to stir
up the Senators.
In event of an armistice, however, it will
not be possible for long to avoid decision on
this question. MeSSrs. Attlee and Churchill
have served notice that they will throw their
influence behind Red Chinas bid when the
Korean fighting ends India and probably most
of the Asian nations will be in Red Chnas
corner. In fact, if our stand is one of opposi-
ton, we may we'll find ouselves standing alone
so far as the major nations are concerned.
There are arguments, certainly for stand
ing alone, If it comes to that. Communist
China has been formally branded an aggressor
by the U. N. If she is admitted to membership
merely because she calls off the war, that will
be both a concession to aggression and an
instance of shooting ones way into this Or
ganization for the preservation of the peace.
To say the least, it would shake the moral
foundations upon which the U. N. presumably
rests, and would be bitter pill for the families
of the American boys who have been shot and
tortured and murdered by the Chinese Com
munists.
1t would be concession which should also
cause grave concern for the future. Chester
Bowles, our returned Ambassador to India,
says the United States should not agree to admit
Communist China to the U. N unless peace in
Korea, Indo- China and South Asia were assured
by such decision. But what form would that
assurance take? The Communists have violated
virtually every agreement they have made.
Why should we suppose that the Chinese Com
muniStS, even If they sign paper agreeing to
peace, will live up to the agreement? The
answer is that we would be naive and stupid
to assume any such thing. In all probability,
once entrenched in the U. NJ, they would use
their enhanced prestige to continue to under
mine their Asian neighbors and to bring them
into the Communist family. For us, especially
with the future of Japan in mind, this is
most serious consideration.
After running through the arguments
which might justify us in standing alone,
however, one comes up against harsh and
ugly but inescapable, fact: Red China is the
China of today. We continue to recognize the
government of Chang Kai-shek on Formosa,
but 1t is not the government of China and it
will not become the government OF China unless
we are prepared to attack and defeat the Com
munist regime and reinstate the generalissimo
by force of arms. 1t is doubtful that we could
do that If we tried. And in all probability we
are not going to try So we must face up to the
question Of how we are going to negotiate
peace in Korea, and how after peace comes, If
it does we are going to deal with China while
pretending that the Red government Is not in
fact, the real government
1t was because of this consideration that
the President did not close the door on the
question Of admitting Red China to the U. N.
He knows and many other people must know,
that the time may come when Red China will
be admitted-no matter how distasteful how
immoral and even how dangerous the taking
of such a step may be.