The Gisborne Herald. IN WHICH IS INCORPORATED “THE TIMES." GISBORNE, THURSDAY, APRIL 29, 1948. UNEASY POLITICAL SITUATION IN CHINA

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22624, 29 April 1948, Page 4

The Gisborne Herald. IN WHICH IS INCORPORATED “THE TIMES." GISBORNE, THURSDAY, APRIL 29, 1948. UNEASY POLITICAL SITUATION IN CHINA

I N view of the wealth of goodwill held by most of the world’s peoples for the Chinese nation and China’s importance as what should be a democratic bastion along an extensive coastline in the Far East, it is singularly unfortunate that Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek and his prominent colleagues seem incapable of reconstructing the National Assembly cn the broader basis for which the United States and other friendly Powers have been pressing. The recently-reported hubbub at Nanking headquarters, where delegates to the Assembly clamoured for the constitutional election of a vicepresident, points to an intensification of the discontent which has been manifest over a period much too long to suit the peace of those who are encouraging the creation of a united country. After the election of the National Assembly itself, a Sydney Morning Herald authority wrote: “The facade of democracy provided by China’s new liberal Constitution cannot conceal the fact that, behind it, the old corrupt, one-party dictatorship is being perpetuated. The recent election was a travesty of democracy. The apathy of the electors, of whom not more than 10,000,000 were reported to have voted, was doubtless partly explained by _ the knowledge that the result was a foregone conclusion. Chiang Kai-shek and the Ivuomintang saw to that. On the very eve of the election the only real opposition, the Democratic League, was outlawed, ostensibly for abetting the Communist rebellion. At the same time, with less publicity, the police carried out wholesale arrests of intellectuals guilty of criticism of the Kuomintang.” If this indictment is correct —and evidence from American sources runs along somewhat similar lines—the conclusion must be that the new Assembly is only the Kuomintang under another name. The American Secretary of State, Mr. Marshall, has been reported in the Manchester Guardian as admitting that, in these political circumstances, the Chinese Communists are in a very strong position and that unless there is a quick move towards the establishment of real democracy by Chiang Kai-shek, and unless the United States gives prompt and generous financial aid, there is a serious danger that the Communists will shortly over-run the whole of the vast country.

The continuing successes of the well-organised Communist armies in the north underline the peril. Control of Manchuria has passed into Communist hands almost entirely, and the Communist forces are pressing steadily southward. Tf the Central Government, largely through its own failure to build up a solid, democratic front in which the people can have confidence, fails to hold them, Soviet influence may soon he paramount in another great segment of Asia. The ehoiee for American supporters of aid for China is invidious. They must know that the Chinese Communists, although formerly regarded as not being within the Soviet circle, will nevertheless delight the Kremlin by their advances and their apparent hold on large sections of the people despite the well-authenticated reports of aggressions and atrocities against big landowners and Church organisations. The main weakness in the efforts to halt, them lies in the low prestige of the National Government. If it be held that Washington simply must, pour assistance into southern China, the programme may he distasteful to American public opinion inasmuch ns it. will probably mean the bolstering of a regime both authoritarian and incompetent. The growing tension throughout the world, however, calls for a strong defensive front in China against communism. The Nanking Government will receive help, and in return it is hoped that, its leaders will sec reason in the American advice that the principles of democracy should be upheld.