Relations With Red China
DALLIN, DAVID J.
Relations With Red China If Peking ceases its depreciations against Formosa, our recognition of two Chinas --which have in fact existed since 1949--will become inevitable By David J. Dallin FOR A...
...But should the Chinese Communist government, of its own will or under pressure from Moscow, sign an armistice or in some other manner pledge to refrain from military operations against Formosa, the last reason for non-recognition and non-admission will have been removed...
...The evidence shows that Peking has been careful to avoid the folly of all-out war with the U.S...
...The Communists have several ways to press us--release of prisoners, trade, travel, etc...
...Whether we like it or not...
...For a long time, we negotiated with the Chinese Communists for a Korean truce...
...But at a certain point, prodded perhaps by Moscow and realizing its own impotence against American power, Peking may well acquiesce in the status quo and attempt to exchange aggressive gestures for a seat in the United Nations...
...he maintains that United Nations membership should be accorded to all effective sovereignties, whether democratic, Communist or Fascist...
...We were defeated not so much by military force as by deception and our own ignorance and passivity--failing to move "before the dust settles" (as the then Secretary of State put it) at a time when China's fate hung in the balance...
...Though the great powers of Europe and Asia had recognized Soviet Russia in the early 1920s, this country, in splendid isolation behind two oceans, could afford to delay recognition a decade...
...or else we must maintain relations with Formosa alone, even if Peking drops its bellicose attitudes and pursues peaceful policies...
...So long as this situation prevails, we shall have to reject the idea of one China, because we cannot turn over the eight million people on Formosa to Communist rule...
...We should now realize that two Chinas have been in existence for several years and that there is little prospect of their merging in the near future...
...It is time other nations were added, among them Germany, Japan and their wartime ally, Franco Spain, and--Communist China, if it adopts the recognized rules and norms of international intercourse...
...in 1954...
...What would we say about a general who deliberately chose unfavorable terrain for a battle with a shrewd enemy...
...So long as these continue, recognition is still impossible...
...Nor do we have any illusions about its beneficent evolution in the foreseeable future...
...some people, however, try to charm the pain away and merely prolong the agony...
...If there were a real chance of change in China in the near future, there might be a stronger case for continuing to unconditionally oppose recognition and admission of Peking...
...It was no blunder on his part to agree to recognition...
...We all know the Chinese Communist regime is dictatorial, inhumane, terroristic and slave-driving...
...Under these conditions, the prospect is that Communist China will be alive for some time before things change, and the free world will have to live with it...
...Whatever we may think about the prospects of such a development in the future, today there is no indication of any conflict between the two governments...
...It is wrong to exaggerate the significance of diplomatic recognition, and it is doubly wrong to concentrate on it in our relations with the Soviet bloc...
...For other countries, such as Japan, trade with China is becoming more and more a vital issue...
...Did not the United States recognize the Soviet Union at the moment when Stalin's cruel collectivization drive was at its height...
...At present, such a war could only break out as a reaction to a new Communist aggression...
...Indeed, Senator Walter George, Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, hinted at such a course on September 22 when he said that a "period is approaching when the Red Chinese would be willing to say that they renounce the use of force and want to talk things out, and then we will he ready to cooperate with them in negotiations...
...Since the publication of David J. Dallin's four articles on the East-West detente (NL, August 15-September 12), he has received a number of criticisms of the position therein expressed with regard to recognition of Communist China...
...Was not the Stalin regime a member of the League of Nations...
...Because we do not recognize the Chinese Communist government, every occasion on which we negotiate with it is regarded by our citizens as a humiliation and in the Communist capitals as a source of fiendish satisfaction...
...Nor should our recognition of Peking, if this should occur, affect our close ties with the Republic of China government...
...Certainly we should not withdraw our forces on the word of Mao Tse-tung or Chou En-lai...
...Relations With Red China If Peking ceases its depreciations against Formosa, our recognition of two Chinas --which have in fact existed since 1949--will become inevitable By David J. Dallin FOR A number of years, discussion of Communist China has been centered on two alternatives: Either we must recognize Peking, sever relations with Nationalist China, and turn Formosa over to the Mao Tse-tung regime...
...it was not a matter of great consequence in world affairs...
...If a painful tooth must be extracted, good sense would dictate performing the operation at once...
...The issue of recognition is our least favorable terrain in the struggle with the Communist powers...
...Today, only 60 of the world's 75-odd nations are represented in the UN...
...Second, popular anti-Communist movements in China...
...we shall not be able to prevent such trade for more than a short while...
...Although the United Nations has wielded no great power in our time, it must be maintained, whatever its real impact...
...When, under such conditions, Peking adopts normal attitudes toward foreign nationals, liberates them from her jails and permits their exit, when the usual facilities for the functioning of diplomatic representatives are provided in Peking, the time will have come to revise our position on recognition and admission...
...Finally, a war on Communist China by the SEATO powers, along with South Korea and Nationalist China, the brunt of which would be borne by the United States...
...Dallin explains his views at greater length...
...we participated with them in the Geneva Conference which ended the Indo-Chinese war...
...The situation today is not quite the same as that of 1933, when we recognized the Soviet Union...
...our present negotiations at Geneva concerning U.S...
...we must, in this small world of ours, rub elbows with almost every existing government...
...How difficult is the task of fighting recognition, we saw when German Chancellor Adenauer went to Moscow...
...Dallin (right) believes Peking's recognition inevitable once it renounces the use of force...
...he had no alternative under the circumstances...
...The only conditions that can be set for admission of a government into the UN are that it have effective control over a particular territory, that it pursue a policy of non-aggression against other nations, and that it comply with the recognized rules of international intercourse...
...prisoners are being artificially dragged out by Peking's envoys merely to prolong the delight of seeing de facto recognition enforced on the "stubborn" Americans...
...If we continue in the present vein, we will remain on the defensive for a long time, and the years to come will merely witness one retreat after another...
...We proceeded from the premise that there can only be one China: either the Republic of China under Chiang Kai-shek, or the Communists' "Chinese People's Republic...
...We should not, of course, be fooled again by Communist pledges or promises...
...We still have not entirely reconciled ourselves to that defeat and to its implications...
...Today, however, when the United States plays the role that formerly belonged to Britain, when we are the only great power in the Western Pacific, the only balance to Soviet Russia in Asia, we cannot afford to ignore realities...
...But the chances of change are slight...
...The government of the United States, whether it be Republican or Democratic, will simply be unable to refuse...
...It is, moreover, imperative that the United States be in a position to observe and evaluate policies, living conditions and political trends in China, and to protect its own citizens in a basically hostile Communist country...
...Did we sever relations with the Nazi regime in the period before the war...
...The painful and humiliating situation in East Asia today is the consequence of our defeat in China between 1946 and 1949...
...We must protect Formosa, Korea, Thailand, the Philippines?by diplomacy if possible, by arms if necessary...
...In this article...
...It should be reconstructed and supplemented to make it as nearly universal as possible...
...Now there remain its military operations and preparations for a war against Formosa...
...The situation is obscure, but from what we know, it appears most doubtful that rebel movements strong enough to overthrow the Government are now developing in China...
...in fact, there are many reasons why the two regimes must stick together...
...There are only three ways in which the Communist system in China can be abolished: First, as a consequence of a break between Moscow and Peking, either through a new turn in Soviet policies or through Chinese deviation...
...Non-recognition of Peking was the only possible course for the United States so long as the Chinese Communists participated as aggressors in the Korean War, trained officers and men for the aggressive war in Indo-China, and assisted in supplying arms from Czechoslovakia and Russia to the Ho Chi Minh forces...
...But diplomatic recognition and membership in the United Nations cannot be viewed as rewards for democratic virtue...
Vol. 38 • October 1955 • No. 40
