GRIM STRUGGLE AHEAD

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26407, 11 March 1947, Page 5

GRIM STRUGGLE AHEAD

RIVAL FORCES IN MANCHURIA INTERNATIONAL OPINION AT STAKE Rec. 10 p.m. NANKING, Mar. 10. The Nationalist general, Tui Li-Ming, broadcasting *to Manchuria, declared that the Government would concentrate its power in continued attacks on the Chinese Communist army and would “ recover the whole of Manchuria.”. General Tui, who commands the National forces in the north, promised to strengthen the defences of Changchun and Kirin, two Government cities threatened by Communist offensives. The Peking correspondent of the New York Times said that the Chinese Communists are at present believed to be eager to strike heavy blows against the Kuomintang in an effort to strengthen the bargaining power of the totalitarian bloc to the Moscow conference should the question of China be taken up there. The correspondent says that Northern Manchuria, which has a common border with Soviet Siberia over 2000 miles long, is at present held by the Communists, but the Nationalists effectively control more than two-fifths of Manchuria, mainly in the south and central part. If the Nationalists were to break through to the Siberian frontier, or, conversely, if the Communists were to drive south and sieze Changchun and Mukden and other cities, it would have a direct bearing on the present delicate relationship between the' Kuomintang and the Soviet Government.

Even the Communist attacks in Shantung province are believed to be spurred by international rather than internal political considerations. It is increasingly felt that the civil war will intensify as both sides feel that they have the eyes of the Moscow conferees fixed on them.

ARMIES MASSING IN CHINA Rec. 10 p.m. NANKING, Nov. 9. Natonalist newspapers claim that a concentrated 'Communist offensive aimed at Tsingtao has been checked, at Kiaohsien, 45 miles north-west of Tsingtao. Both sides are reported to be preparing for a major battle in East and Central Shantung province.