U.S. VIEWS ON CHINA

Press, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 26397, 16 April 1951, Page 7

U.S. VIEWS ON CHINA

KOREA CEASE FIRE DISCOUNTED (Rec. 8 p.m.) NEW YORK, April 14. American high officials at Lake Success remained convinced to-day that no peace negotiations with Communist China were possible unti] after the big battle which is now shaping up in Korea. They discounted very heavily all attempts being made by various groups of delegations inside the United Nations to resume contact with the Chinese Communists on the question of a cease fire. European and Asian delegates on the other hand expressed concern at the American Government’s renewed and categorical refusal to recognise the Chinese People’s Republic and to discuss the question of Formosa. It was felt in these quarters that the uncompromising reply made to the British proposals on the Japanese peace treaty could do nothing but harden the attitude of the Peiping authorities.

The American official reply to this was that nothing which the United States or any other nation could do at this stage would have any appreciable effect on the Chinese Communist attitude.

High officials pointed to the fact that in spite of numerous attempts to negotiate a cease fire during the last three months the Peiping authorities steadily went ahead with their plans for the big spring offensive. In quarters it was feared that the political atmosphere in America after ti-.t coming battle might make it virtually' impossible to arrive at some compromise solution.

These quarters foresaw that General MacArthur, by throwing his weight into the political arena, might conceivably swing public opinion toward an all-out effort to defeat China. Some diplomats feared that such an event might split the United Nations into two widely-separated camps and endanger the entire principle of collective security.