Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1954-08-30
Propaganda and Formoso

There are good reasons why Chang
Kai-shek and his Nationalist government
on FormoSa are taking calm view of Pei
pings continuing loud and threatful talk
suggesting that the island will soon be in
vaded and liberated" by the Chinese Com
muniStS.
OF course, the chief reason for this
unalarmed feeling-which Is shared by most
of our own military and diplomatic author
itieS-iS the fact that the powerful United
States 7th Fleet is stationed in the area,
with firm orders to break up any invasion
attempt against Formosa. And that con-
Sideration, plus the existence of General
issimo Chiang'S large and impressive armed
forces, makes it seem unlikely in the ex-
IRENE that Red China, despite the mounting
ShrillneSs of its broadcasts from Peiping,
is really contemplating an early effort to
seize the island.
This appears to be the moro true be-
cause there is no solid evidence indicating
that the Mao Tse-tung regime has available,
or is acquiring and massing, the great
amount of shipping and naval-air strength
that would be needed for full-scale am
phibious assault across the 100 miles of
dangerous sea separating Formosa from
the Chinese mainland. Accordingly, unless
Moscow has committed itself to lend about
aid to Peiping in that respect, the threat to
invade can hardly be described as for
nlidable one. Further, since the men of the
Kremlin do not seem to relish the idea of
risking the outbreak of general war at
the present stage, it looks to be most i'm
probable that they would support Macs
forces in such project. And so, everything
considered, Generalissimo Chang and his
top aides have ample Justification for their
confidence that the island will not be sub
jected to a serious attack in the foreseeable
future.
But why, then, has Red Peiping been at
pains right now to reaffirm and intensity
what 1t has been saying, on and off, about
Formosa ever since 1949? Communists,
even when they bluff and lie, always have
an objective in mind. What are they seek
ing in this particular instance? No out
slider can be sure of the answer, but there
are indications that their purpose is null
tiple one-G) to make the Chinese people
forget about the miSerieS in the making as
a result of the devastating floods along the
Yangtze River; (2) to raise synthetic
issue designed to complicate the forthcom-
ing conference on organizing our American
sponsored Southeast Asia security organi-
cation: and (3) to distract attention from
the Mao regimes current efforts to subvert
the whole of China and inf1ltrate
Thailand with the puppet "free That's"
Thus, although Formosa itself appar-
emily does not have to worry about a near
future invasion, the Chinese Communists
backed by their mentors in Moscow-are
resorting to propaganda line calculated
to keep the Red tide rolling onward. The
free world, especially what Is left of it in
Asia, must alert itself accordingly.
The new law will change the traditional
income tax date from March Is to April Is,
which is good in that it moves it a month
farther away from the Christmas bills, but
bad in that 1t brings it month closer to
vacation expenses and the formal dress for
the spring prom.