UNITED STATES IS TO WITHDRAW FROM MEDIATION . IN CHINA

Wanganui Chronicle, 31 January 1947, Page 5

UNITED STATES IS TO WITHDRAW FROM MEDIATION . IN CHINA

CIVIL WAR MAY FLARE Washington, Jan. 29 Diplomats consider that the possibility of all-out civil war between the Government and Communists in North China has immediately increased as a result oi: an announcement by the State Department that the United States would withdraw from the committee of three established in Chungking, in February, 1945, to find means of bringing to an end hostilities between the Chinese Central Government and the Communists.

The United States Secretary of State (General Marshall) was chairman of the committee during his mission to China. The United States is also terminating its connection with the executive headquarters established by the committee in Peking to supervise in the field the execution of the agreement for cessation of hostilities and the demobilisation and reorganisation of the armed forces in China. A States Department spokesman

said the announcement, meant that the United States was withdrawing from all efforts to mediate in the differences between the Chinese Nationalists and Communists The Shanghai correspondent of the Associated Press says that Chinese students, who had been demanding American withdrawal, gleefully greeted the cessation of the mediation efforts, but political and business circles fear a protracted civil war. The British-owned “North China Daily News” described the decision as a “natural corollary to General Marshall’s report to President Truman and General Marshall’s appointment as Secretary of State.” No quarter views the American action as a concession to Russia, and no immediate change is expected in the Soviet’s policy in north China and Manchuria as a result. General Marshall has arranged for the prompt withdrawal of 9000 marines and over 1000 army troops from China, leaving only 2000 marines at Tsingtao, where they are aiding the Chinese navy training programme. The State Department has long regarded the presence of American troops in China as a brake on hostilities. Officials poir4 out that Russia frequently criticised the stationing of American forces in China, so that the decision to withdraw should remove one point of friction between Russia and America.