U.S. Will Say No To Madame Chiang

Northern Advocate, 1 December 1948, Page 5

U.S. Will Say No To Madame Chiang

WASHINGTON, Tue. (10 a.m.).—The appeal for all-out American aid that Madame Chiang Kai-shek is expected to deliver later this week will be met with a firm rejection, diplomatic informants say. Although full details of United States policy have yet to be completed, it can already be stated, on good authority, that any programme calling for a great increase in dollar expenditure, 01 more direct American participation in the actual fighting, is out of the question.

It is expected that the United States will tell Madame Chiang it is ready to increase slightly the present military programme if certain conditions are accepted and fulfilled. The present military aid to China totals $125,000,000 and a new, additional programme, amounting to $200,000,000 for 1949, is regarded as probable.

Inner Mongolian rail terminus, 320 miles west of Peiping.

Government headquarters also said that planes inflicted heavy casualties , on Communist convoys moving south- ■ ward through Jehol Province. Reuters correspondent reports that Nationalist headquarters in Central China have been moved from Hsuchow to Pengpu. One Nationalist army has been left to garrison Hsuchow, while the re- , mainder of the forces deployed in the area are now driving southwards towards Suhsien, in an endeavour to join the Pengpu battle. *. With the ominously deteriorating situation, prospects of a negotiated peace with the Communists are again ■ being discussed in Nanking. Sun Fo’s promised Cabinet line-up has failed to arouse any popular interest among the general public. Nearly 500 more American evacuees sailed from Shanghai today. • The evacuation of American Embassy and Consular personnel at Nanking and Shanghai to Manila by air begins on Thursday.

This will fall far short of what the Chiang Kai-shek Government is asking—about $1,000,000,000. Reports from Central China battlefronts today indicated that Communist forces are sweeping southward, isolating or by-passing large National troop concentrations.

One report said Kuchen, a railway town 150 miles north-west of Nanking, fell to 'Red troops as they widened their net around 140.000 trapped Nationalist troops. The encircled forces were being bombarded by Communist radio appeals to surrender. An official dispatch from the northern front said President Chiang Kaishek’s armies recaptured Paotow, an