North China Lost ?
The Nationalist forces seem to be failing in their struggle to hold North China. For some time the whole of Manchuria, except for one or two garrison towns, has been in Communist hands, and Communist pressure on the coastal corridor to Mukden and the east-west corridor from Tientsin to Kalgan has been persistent and effective. It is now being widely admitted that unless there is some startling change in the military situation the Nationalists will be obliged to abandon not only Manchuria, but the whole of North China, to the Communists. The suggestion that a formal partition of China between Nationalist and Communist spheres
might be arranged sounds on the face of it improbable, and the arrangement would not last long undisturbed if it were ever agreed to. All this presents a gloomy picture for General Chiang Kai-Chek and the American Government. Military reverses have their origin in the inefficiency of the creaking machinery of the Kuomintang the generals in the north have been outmanoeuvred, but it is doubt- ful how successful they could have been without the support of a more effective machine in their rear. The American administration has to fit the military picture in North China into its plans for future aid. It has in the past been the main backer of the present Chinese Government, and has been a liberal supplier of arms, as well as of more peaceful assistance. Last week the President was forced to admit that so far the United States has failed to help China to " make effective and constructive use of American assistance." He proposed a new credit of $51o,00o,000 to finance essential imports, but said nothing about further military aid. He agreed that this credit could do no more than provide " a respite from rapid economic deterioration." Everybody is agreed that the only hope for China lies in a radical reorganisation from within. It remains to be seen whether the continuance of limited American aid will suffice to prevent this reorganisation from coming violently, and from the north.
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