BUILDER OF CHINA'S RESOURCES

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 7, Issue 83, 20 June 1944, Page 6

BUILDER OF CHINA'S RESOURCES

China's supreme war lord, General Chiang Kai-slie'k, was almost unknown outside his own country seven years ago. Descended from a fighting .stock, he has become China's generalissimo. He. is described as cold, relentless, reluctant to give confidences, but a first-clas' military technician and a shrewd politician. He was born in 1887, the son of a farmer, at Ghikow. in the Chekiang Province. His first campaign was a revolt in 1911 against the Man-chu Empire. 15y 1931 the name of Chiang's Central Government was beginning to become known to the outside world. From 1931 to 1937 lie gradually built up, China's resources, military and industrial, and by the .spring of 1937 had at last united China into one union. Tn 1937 tiie Japanese struck and before their mechanised might the Chinese forces retreated, fighting for time. He married Mei-ling in 1927, one of the. world's most astute business women. In the North African conferences at which Mr Churchill and President lioosevc.lt atended, Madame Chiang acted as the generalissimo.'s interpreter. General Chiang Kai-shek will have the task in coordination with Lord Louis' Mountbatten's East Asia Command ol' ejecting the Japanese from the. mainland of China; a task which he 1 Avill face with the same steadfast courage that lie has displayed during the many years that his country has resisted the Japanese invaders. All Chinese counter attacks against the. enemy were srategieally planned and developed so that the utmost could be gained from them. Kneniv attacks are parried and drawn out so that the Japanese are exhausted and unable to develop their thrusts. At the back of these astute moves is Chiang Kai-shek, who is the master brain behind China's affairs.