The Evening Star TUESDAY, APRIL 16, 1946. MANCHURIAN SCENE.

Evening Star, Issue 25769, 16 April 1946, Page 4

The Evening Star TUESDAY, APRIL 16, 1946. MANCHURIAN SCENE.

As the. Russians withdraw from Manchuria, an operation which they have promised will be completed by April 30, tension between the Chinese Nationalists forces and the Communists appears to be increasing, and latest messages report the Communist leader, General Chou En-Lai, as designating the overall situation as one of general civil war, out of which may develop internecine strife that will engulf, all China. Similar threats of national civil war have loomed large on more than one occasion, but have, fortunately, through prudent second thoughts and wary negotiations, failed to materialise. Even now it cannot be said just how much significance should be attachable to General Chou's statement, and the report that the town of Changchun is surrounded by Communists, with the airfields under attack, may (prove exaggerated. At all main points where the Russians have withdrawn there has been conflict between the opposing Chinese groups. Although earlier reports have sometimes indicated very large forces engaged, later evidence has made it fairly clear that there' has been no clash as yet of a major nature. Changchun is a strategically important centre lying about halfway between Mukden and Harbin. It is a junction town on railway lines running south to Mukden and Dairen, north to Harbin, and east to Kirin and the coast of the Sea of Japan. Communist control would seriously hinder Nationalist operations in Northern Manchuria.

The thirty years' Sino-Russian treaty of friendship signed last year pledged the return of Manchuria to China, and all support for the Nationalists. There is no direct evidence that the Russians are acting contrariwise, and are encouraging trouble between the Communists and the Nationalists, but it cannot pass unnoticed that no sooner do the Russians evacuate a town than Communist forces are at hand ready to move in. Britain and the United States, if they are committed at_ all, are committed to support Chiang Kai-shek's Government, and it would be in keeping with present Russian policy to give all aid possible to the forces of Yenan just for what might be termed " the devil of it." Some American correspondents, going beyond allegations, assert firmly that the Russians have been aiding the Communists, and point out that _ the Communists are increasing their reserves of arms and munitions. The movements of the Nationalists have been delimited, but the Communists have been allowed to move freely, which is one reason why they are on hand when the Russians evacuate any centre. While the correspondents make assertions it has to be remembered that because they are denied free access to news by the Russians a certain amount at least of their material must be based on hearsay. The actual position is far from clear, just as it is by no means clear to what extent the Russians have stripped Manchurian industry, but if General Chou has been correctly quoted it becomes evident that the Communists have reached a point at which their patience in the matter of effecting a rapprochement with the Nationalists is about exhausted, and that they are willing to resort to arms to decide the issue. It would be bad enough for civil war to develop, but there is < a greater danger, for, with international jealousies and suspicions so rampant, the course of an internecine struggle could too easily involve opportunist Powers, thus creating a situation fraught "with peril for the whole world. Up till recently the diplomacy of the American Government's representative. General Marshall, now in Washington, has been instrumental in placating ruffled feelings on more than one occasion. His return to China seems urgently needed if the present situation is not to deteriorate out of hand.