Dr. Sun Resigns
Dr. Sun Fo, who has just resigned the Chinese Premiership, was often accused of being " an obstacle to peace." His disappearance will presumably be the signal for renewed discussions with the Communists, in which the Acting President, Li Tsung Jen, will hope to play a conclusive part. Whether the hoped-for peace will in fact materialise is another matter. The Communists give every sign of being in no hurry to move diplomatically or mili- tarily—possibly the two moves will be made to synchronise—and their terms are likely to remain much the same whoever is in nominal charge south of the Yangtse. Dr. Sun's removal had been long demanded for reasons of which the desire for peace was only one, if the strongest, of many. He had come to typify the conditions of chaos into which Nationalist China has declined since the defeat of its armies at the end of 1948. He decamped with the Executive Yuan to Canton, leaving the Legislative Yuan in Nanking, a flight of which the latter has been recently showing increasingly vocal disapproval He was the nominee of President Chiang Kai-shek, and has personally been accused of corruption of the sort which has so long been the curse of the Chiang regime. His policy has vacil- lated between peace and resistance, without any determined efforts being made towards either. In securing his removal, Dr. Sun's opponents have gone a further stage towards enforcing the complete removal of President Chiang Kai-shek. At present his retirement is mainly geographical, and from behind the scenes he continues to exert influence without the burden of day-to-day responsibility. The new Premier will not be able to rebuild the administration or restore confidence in the currency, but if he represents a definite break with the past he may be able to patch up a peace, which would be the first stage towards achieving these two essentials.
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