Far Eastern Policy
Sta,—May I suggest consideration of the reverse side of the "sombre facts " mentioned in your leading article of November 10th ?- The reverse side displays, first, determination on the part of the leading Western Powers to exclude, over as wide an area of the world as possible, by all the means available to them, political and social ideas incom- patible with their own, though in the Far Eastern countries concerned the latter are exotic conceptions with no more to recommend them, in the light of local ideas and traditions, than those which • Russia offers. The reverse side displays, secondly, determination on the part of Western Powers to maintain anachronistic regimes in the Far East by military means, and it displays, thirdly, association of these means with military preparations in Europe declared to be defensive, but characterised by repeated self-congratulatory statements, notably by our war-time leader, Mr. Winston Churchill, upon our superiority in the manufacture and +supply of the most destructive weapons so far invented.
To these facts have to be added the following. America, while pro- claiming her friendly feelings for China, has been the chief opponent in the West of the present Chinese Government. Her policy, moreover, is to allow Japan, as bitter an enemy of China in the past as Germany has been of France, to rearm as soon as possible. General MacArthur, an enthusiastic advocate of this policy, is also a publicly acknowledged advocate of converting Formosa into an American base, and holds such a dominant position in Far Eastern affairs that he is visited, instead of being summoned by the President of the United States for consultation. The Security Council, having declared last June that its military purpose was to compel the North Koreans to retreat to the 38th Parallel. has now, in the flush of unexpectedly rapid success, authorised this ambitious general to extend its original plan to the conquest of Northern Korea, which marches with -Manchuria for many miles and with a small but important piece of Russian territory as well.
To state these faCts is not to evaluate them, unless the assertion that to China they are no less " sombre" than the facts you surveyed
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