CHINA’S PLIGHT

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21511, 16 September 1944, Page 6

CHINA’S PLIGHT

POSITION WEAKER NO DEFEATIST TALK SUPPLY ROUTES NEEDED NEW YORK. Sept. 14. The war in the interior of China is going rapidly against the Chinese as the Japanese drive south-westward from Hengyang towards Kweilin .and Liuchow, the main bases of the United States Fourteenth Air Force, and the Chinese situation is worsening along the Salween River, reports the Chungking correspondent of the New York Times. So far the Japanese have not indicated their intention of transcending their present objectives of knocking out the American forward bases and establishing land communications with Indo-China. However, their present campaign, which is the most determined in six years, might be designed to force China out of the war. There is every reason to believe that the Chinese High Command intends to continue resistance and. despite the gravity of the situation, there is no feeling of defeatism here. Nevertheless, the Honan and Hunan campaigns have broken up some Chinese armies, sharply curtailed American air operations and weakened China’s economic and political strength. The Chinese situation is more desperate now than when America entered the war. Nothing much can be done about it until road transport is opened from India or United Nations landings are made on the coast.