CHINA'S NEEDS

New Zealand Herald, Volume 80, Issue 24758, 4 December 1943, Page 7

CHINA'S NEEDS

PLANS OF ALLIES CLOSER CONCENTRATION PROBLEMS TO BE FAQED (Heed. 7.20 p.m.) LONDON. Dec. 3 Well-informed quarters say that China received most, if not all, she asked for at the three-Power conference in Cairo, says Renter's Cairo correspondent. The Cairo declaration is hailed in Chungking as a great diplomatic and political triumph for China that would establish the country's position as a major world Power. Observers state that the declaration contained no note of imminence concerning an all-out assault on the Japanese, thus suggesting that China, in return for a sweeping tripartite pledge, has accepted the war more than ever as a global struggle in which other strategical considerations might outweigh her own immediate needs. Accelerating Campaign The Cairo correspondent of the New York Times says that as a result of the conference important preparations are on the way to accelerate the Pacific campaign. The correspondent enumerates the following points:

(1) In the Burma campaign the navy can be definitely counted upon. (2) United States troops will probably be despatched to China to bolster up the offensive potentiality there. (3) Certain appointments will be made to eflect a complete liaison between General Mac Arthur and Admiral .Mountbatten, in order to facilitate the connection between the Asiatic commands. (4) The tiny trickle of material to China will probably be amplified. Marshal Chiang Kai-shek, says this correspondent, is reported to be pretty well, but not entirely, pleased by the conference. I lis lack ol enthusiasm i* ascribed to two facts: (.1) Although the Pacific campaign will be stepped up, it definitely remains secondary to the .European war. (2) China remains at the bottom of the priority list for materials, although the lloW will be increased. Opening Sea Route It is believed in Washington, says a message from the American capital, that the conference agreed on high strategy against Japan to provide for the recapture of the Philippines and the opening of the sea passage to China over this route. Britain and America, savs the Associated Press, must ship at least 1,000,000 tons of supplies a month to maintain a minimum offensive force of 100,000 men. That would allow the air force only 200 bombers and 400 fighters. Every multiple of these forces will require roughly another 1,000,000 tons of shipping a month, yet until the China sea route is established, say American military experts, there cannot be a final, grand offensive against Japan. Therefore, it is likely to take at least 18 months to smash Japan after Germany has been defeated.

NAZI CAUSE HOPELESS MORE PEACE RUMOURS LONDON. Dec. Q "The Allied conference is a death blow to Axis propaganda, which hits continued to talk about discord among the Allies," says the Turkish newspaper Ulus, quoted by the Ankara radio. "It: is a fact that there is no longer the slightest possibility of a German victory. It is probable that the war will end like the last one, hut peace rumours at present in circulation are groundless." According to the Madrid correspondent of the Associated Press, wild speculations about the movements of Allied chiefs, their plans and the proximity of peace are sweeping through Europe.

WAR OF NERVES GERMAN EXPECTATION LONDON, Der. 2 The press in Berlin predicts that the Allied conference will be followed Jiy a war of nerves and sharpened bomhing in an effort to break inner resistance in Germany, says the Associated Press correspondent in Stockholm. A Berlin spokesman said the German people were prepared for the coming great test. They understood that the present pause in the air raids would.not last long, but would be followed by new and equally heavy raids. Renter's correspondent in Stockholm says the news of the conference was splashed in the German morning newspapers. The German overseas news agency said the conference was without doubt the biggest, and probably the most important, of the Allied conferences held so far. The Voclkischer Beohachter. the official Nazi Party organ, urged the Germans to resist the war of nerves. Other morning newspapers belittled the conference, one describing it as a "big bluff."

AUSTRALIAN OPINION (Special Australian Correspondent) SYDNEY, Dec. The meeting of Mr. Churchill. President Roosevelt ami Marshal Chiang Kai-shek is regarded in Australia as being the most important conference to Australia and New Zealand since the war began. Its programme binds the Allies to prune the Japanese Empire of 3,000,000 square miles of territory and 500,000,000 subject people, leaving her an island group of less than 150,00U square miles and 75,000,000 people. Most commentators forecast heavy blows against the Japanese from a number of directions particularly from India and from the Central Pacific, in the earlier phases of the future war.