The Wanganui Chronicle. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 1945. THE NEW CHINA

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 89, Issue 212, 7 September 1945, Page 4

The Wanganui Chronicle. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 1945. THE NEW CHINA

WITH the close of the war China stands at the gate of a new v way of life. Can she grasp the present opportunity to swing it wide open? The great rift within China to-day is clear: on the one hand is the Central Government at Chungking and on the other the socalled Communist Government situated at Yeiian. The fact that this rift is continuing should occasion no great concern, for despite appearances conditions have actually improved during the war period. Prior to' the Japanese Invasion it was clear that China would never become a consolidated nation unless it was subjected to pressure from the outside. That pressure lias been applied and the consolidation process has been carried a considerable way. This may sound like a contradiction in view of the existence of virtually two capitals within the country, but that is not the way to look at the Chinese picture. Prior to the war Chinese unity was marred and scarred by the operations of various war-lords against whom the Central Government was unable to operate successfully. The war has removed the war-lords and given to the Central Government the nucleus of an air force which will, in the future, be very useful in policing the vast territory under Chinese occupation. Never in the history of China has the fiat of the Emperor run throughout the land. The country was too big and the means of communication too meagre for the Central Government to make its will effective. With the new conditions the Central Government will be able to make a speedy communication with any part of the country and air transportation will proceed apace, unhampered by large-scale expenditures previously laid out on roads and railways. Air transportation in China will, in all probability, develop in a unique way, because, it is operating under virgin conditions. The crucial problem of China to-day, however, is politic'.’ Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek’s latest, statement is that the Central Government will no longer tolerate the employment of troops by other than its authority. “A most important condition of national unity is the nationalisation of all the armed forces,” he says. ‘‘Disreputable practices like the employment of armed forces in political controversy, and the seizure of territory in defiance of Government orders, arc relics of the days of the warlords. They cannot be tolerated.”

•"Whether Chiang Kai-shek feels himself in a position to measure his strength with the Communists must remain for the time being a matter for conjecture, but.be seems to have separated Russia from the Chinese Communists and to have received the solemn promise of the Soviet not to interfere in purely Chinese affairs. If this separation is as complete as it appears to be, then the Generalissimo’s future task will be easier than it was in pre-war days. Smashing the Communists, however, will not bring unity to China, and it will be better if he can negotiate a settlement with the Yenan Government. The move to call together the various political parties is not new. On March 1 lie announced that the Party (Kuo Ming Tang) would convene a National Assembly to inaugurate a constitutional government on November 12, but that in the early spring and summer a Congress of the Parly itself would be held to consider the programme. In the same statement the Generalissimo said that he had offered to recognise the Communist Party provided the Party itself agreed to incorporate the Red Army and all organs of local administration in the Government forces, civil and military. The Communist reply to this statement was to allege that the promised National Assembly would merely be a congress of slaves. They demanded that the dictatorship of Chiang must be brought to a close ami that guarantees must be given that the. eleelions io the Peoples’ Congress, or National Assembly, must be free in every sense of the word. How a country such as China can expect to operate a popular assembly elected on a broad franchise is difficult, to divine. To what kind of electorate shall any Government turn for support must of necessity be a problem of considerable perplexity. Any electorate which falls short of universal franchise can be attacked on purist grounds, but it is equally obvious that the masses of the China of to-day are not sufficiently informed to be able to judge between a number of parties. In such circumstances the two groups representing the rival governments—for that is what they in fact arc—will probably remain facing edch other and distrusting each other. Neither will be willing to hand its arms over to the other. The prosecution of a policy to develop goodwill between the two sepms to be, from a distance, the only safe course for Chiang Kai-shek to follow. It is to be hoped that he does not inaugurate a civil war. .