EMBARGO ON CHINA

Press, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 26529, 18 September 1951, Page 7

EMBARGO ON CHINA

(Rec. 10 p.m.) WASHINGTON. September 16. A Senate sub-committee said to-day that an investigation in the Far East had disclosed that strategic goods were being smuggled into Communist China from United States-controlled areas in the Pacific.

Specific instances were cited of motorised junks carrying oil, heavyduty lorry tyres, scrap aircraft, aluminium, scrao lead, and. other materials from the Ryukyu Islands. The places named included Okinawa, where the United States has a large military base. The sub-committee said that new and far-reaching efforts must be made by the United States authorities to halt such traffic. It declared that most of the stores from the Ryukyus had undoubtedlv been stolen or procured illegally. Smuggling apparently had increased and aside from security implications, it undermined United States prestige and hampered negotiations for stronger controls in certain areas. The sub-committee said that trade with Communist China was much better controlled than a year ago, but the Chinese Communists were still able to obtain strategic materials through loopholes, by the evasion of controls, and even at this late date from Western areas which did not see fit to deny these items to an aggressor country. The United States embargo on shipments to Communist China appeared to be satisfactory, but unless other We'tern nations took similar action, its effects on the Chinese Communist war potential would probably be short-lived and inconclusive.