COMMUNIST BID IN CHINA

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 69, Issue 49, 7 December 1948, Page 3

COMMUNIST BID IN CHINA

Yuan Alleges Russian Aid (N.Z.P. A—Copyright) SHANGHAI, December G. The Chinese Communists last night hurled 10,000 troops against Kiangyen, 70 miles north-east of Nanking, in what pro-Goyern-ment reports described as the first major bid to blast a gap in the Government’s first defence line guarding the approaches to the Yangtse, 20 miles to the south. This offensive follows the Communist occupation of the stronghold of Hweiying in North Kiangsu, which the Nationalists last week evacuated. Communist artillery is reported to have already levelled the outer strongpoints of Kiangyen, but it is claimed that the defenders are still clinging to the inner defences. Strong Nationalist reinforcements are rushing to Kiangyen from Yangchow, 30 miles to the west. Alleging Russian assistance to the Communists, 27 members of the Chinese Legislative Yuan will to-morrow introduce a resolution proposing that the Government appeal to the United Nations for moral support. The resolution asserts that the alleged Russian assistance constitutes a threat to world peace.

The Chinese legislators sponsoring the' resolution denounce the Yalta Agreement as “a shameful deal in which one ally, the United States, betrayed another, China.” This agreement, they say, formed the basis of the Chinese-Soviet treaty of friendship, of August 14, 1945, under which China made many concessions to Russia. They claini that Russia failed to observe the provisions of the treaty and armed the Chinese Communists.