The American-Soviet R a c e
BABU, V. VITHAL
THE AMERICAN-SOVIET RACE By V Vithal Babu American-Soviet competition continues to be a potent factor in Asian economic development. A factual report on precisely what the U.S. and USSR have...
...The Indian Government, with help from the Ford Foundation, established centers for training village community workers, and the U.S...
...assistance...
...South Vietnam: Since the partition of Indo-China following France's unsuccessful stand against Communism (which cost the U.S...
...This includes construction of village wells and drains, an adult literacy campaign, malaria control, and an agricultural extension service...
...must be more generous and flexible, both economically and politically, if that support is not to be frittered away...
...grants included $25 million for the importing of fertilizers, $23 million for drilling 5,000 deep-tube wells, and $64 million for the importing of steel for farm implements...
...Ceylon: Because it entered a five-year trade agreement with Communist China in 1952, Ceylon was disqualified from U.S...
...The Soviet Union recently proposed a barter agreement which would provide fuel oil, coal, automobiles, tractors and machinery in exchange for rice, timber and tin...
...4. A less suspicious attitude on the part of U.S...
...Including military aid, the total spent has been $100 million...
...A 1950 trade agreement provided for the import of Soviet machinery and transportation equipment, as against credits for the future export of Afghan minerals to the USSR...
...aid in South Korea has largely been devoted to strengthening Korean defense and assisting in relief and rehabilitation after the war...
...7. Far greater participation in United Nations technical-assistance programs and a more positive attitude toward enlarging UN activity in the field of economic development...
...the Indian Government contributed eleven...
...Under the village "AID" program, educational and medical work is being done with U.S...
...This aid went for multi-purpose projects, agricultural research, soil and water conservation, fertilizer distribution, etc...
...3. A long-overdue liberalization of U.S...
...The Chinese State Planning Commission's report on the First Five Year Plan indicated that the USSR in 1955 was designing and supervising construction of 156 industrial projects...
...It has offered loans at lower rates of interest than the U.S.: it accepts repayment in local currencies, so that the meager Asian dollar and sterling reserves are not depleted...
...The basic accent was on intensifying agricultural production...
...With the launching of the Second Five Year Plan, which lays particular stress on the development of basic industry, India has run into foreign-exchange problems...
...Joint mutual-assistance plans are being formulated...
...Most of this is military aid, and much of the rest contributed to the resettlement of refugees from North Vietnam...
...If the United States is to be realistic in its future programs, it must revise many past policies...
...More recently, new credits were granted...
...Despite this, the Ford Foundation was later active in raising Burmese agricultural standards...
...The U.S...
...Does the massive U.S...
...aid, on which this mountain kingdom is totally dependent, has amounted to $13 million annually since 1955...
...The remainder has been spent in the fields of education, health and sanitation, civil aviation and industry...
...In the last year, Burma has abandoned an ambitious Eight Year Plan and adopted a more modest Four Year Plan, and is now seeking U.S...
...6. A more scrupulous attitude toward the real values of various Asian currencies (the U.S., by past efforts to maintain inflated values, has encouraged speculators...
...Meanwhile, the Soviet Union has been constructing a million-ton steel plant at an estimated cost of $115 million, on a long-term credit basis...
...Since 1954, however, the United States has helped improve Japanese production techniques, to the extent of about $3 million a year...
...5. A cooler attitude toward corrupt and dictatorial regimes and greater warmth toward the nations trying to build democracy...
...for machine tools, drilling equipment, tractors, transport equipment, etc...
...Although Chinese trade with Ceylon remains extensive, the Soviet Union has not yet embarked on economic assistance here...
...The U.S...
...Gradual development of industry, mining and transportation have also been objectives of an aid program under which nearly $635 million has been spent...
...also granted DDT and equipment worth $22 million for a nationwide anti-malaria program, plus $63 million for 8,700 freight cars, 100 locomotives, and steel for railways...
...aid to Afghanistan, as of March 1957, was $8.6 million—for the Helmand Valley project, transport services, rural activities, mining and public health...
...In 1956, Burma entered a trade agreement with the USSR under which she agreed to sell 400,000 tons of rice annually for the next four years in exchange for Soviet capital equipment and technical assistance...
...In the process of expanding food production, a comprehensive scheme of Community Development Projects was inaugurated to stimulate the spirit of self-help at the village level through improved agriculture, basic education, cottage industries and public-health measures...
...Nationalist China (Formosa): In addition to massive military aid, the United States has granted $720 million to the regime on Formosa, nearly 10 per cent devoted to the development of industry, power and mining...
...The Soviet Union will also establish other projects connected with mining and processing of coal...
...aid was strategic in the First Five Year Plan, though for every dollar spent by the U.S...
...Then nearly $6 million was made available to help finance the purchase of Diesel locomotives, to provide construction equipment and technical assistance for irrigation projects, and to improve highways...
...aid program there aim at making Formosa a viable political and economic unit, or a military base for eventual operations against the Chinese mainland...
...Cambodia: The United States contributes the greatest amount of assistance to this independent neutral state ($75 million altogether), but substantial aid is also coming from China, Russia and India...
...aid to Indonesia— which has totaled $33 million...
...On November 9, India and the USSR concluded an agreement whereby the Soviet Union would build a heavy-machine-tool plant, an optical glass factory, a plant for manufacturing coal-mining machinery and a 250,-000-kilowatt capacity thermal power station...
...aid, Burma in mid-1953 requested the termination of the program...
...on the contrary, she has herself offered this type of aid to less developed countries...
...Indonesia has also obtained the services of American consultants to improve mining and exploit other natural resources...
...Japan: The most highly industrialized nation of Asia, Japan has not needed the type of technical assistance offered South Asian states...
...Along with these short-run changes, most Asian statesmen would welcome a candid clarification of U.S...
...policy on Formosa...
...Among the changes which Asians would welcome are the following: 1. Reduction of the costly military programs, which are out of all proportion to economic aid in Pakistan, Thailand, Formosa and other countries...
...its government-to-government transactions leave little scope for profit-making middlemen...
...economic assistance in Pakistan has also been largely aimed at increasing food production...
...Pakistan has refused aid from the Soviet Union, but recently signed a trade agreement...
...has provided nearly $59 million for this purpose—more than half the cost of the programs...
...But the U.S...
...Laos: U.S...
...That was when Burma decided to appeal to the UN against the incursion of American-backed Chinese Nationalist troops into northeastern Burma...
...trade policies...
...South Korea: U.S...
...Altogether, Pakistan has received $278.5 million from the United States...
...hag also been supplying technicians for engineering projects, and has aided geological and industrial-development surveys...
...Burma: After receiving $21 million of U.S...
...This led to other Soviet credits covering the cost of equipment and technical services in the building of grain elevators, flour mills, baking plants, etc...
...and USSR have provided is in order: India: The United States contributed nearly $330 million to help the successful implementation of India's First Five Year Plan (195156...
...Afghanistan: Total U.S...
...The Philippines: U.S...
...loans to bring new land under cultivation, diversify agriculture, expand transportation, and extend irrigation...
...Pakistan: U.S...
...businessmen and Government officials toward state-owned enterprise in Asia...
...economic aid to the Philippines totals $120 million, and has been devoted to expanding food production, rural development, sanitation and industrial financing...
...In the ideological struggle between democracy and Communism, most Asians support democracy...
...Indonesia: Agriculture, industry, transportation, community development and housing have been the chief spheres of U.S...
...A joint rural reconstruction program has also been undertaken...
...Although the USSR entered the foreign-aid field rather recently, several features of its aid program have impressed Asians...
...Soviet aid was closely linked with the expansion of Soviet trade in Afghanistan...
...The U.S...
...2. Long-term loans at low interest rates, on which Asian countries could plan...
...The Ford Foundation is active in the fields of land reclamation and agricultural extension...
...The Soviet Union last year granted Indonesia a $100-million credit...
...aid program included the necessary equipment for this purpose...
...And this was followed by a new Afghan-Soviet agreement whereby Moscow furnished $100 million in long-term credits for several economic projects...
...Later, a billion-dollar aid agreement was announced whereby the Soviet Union provided technical and financial assistance for both new projects and reconstruction in mining, electric power, chemicals, fertilizers, the metal industry and machine-tool production...
...with them, China can exchange tungsten, jute, wool, lead, silk, rice, etc...
...it tailors its offers to the pressing requirements of the individual countries involved, and emphasizes mutual projects in technical assistance...
...economic assistance, centered in the fields of agriculture, public health, education and transportation, totaled $85 million...
...China: Soviet aid to China alone has virtually exceeded the total of U.S...
...The USSR and China, meanwhile, have been offering Japan the prospect of a large market for Japanese goods and are trying to capitalize on Japanese resentment of many American trade practices...
...In 1952, Russia gave China credits amounting to S3 billion...
...Nearly 15,000 Soviet technicians and advisers are estimated to have worked in the development of heavy industry in China...
...785 million), the United States has granted South Vietnam $500 million...
...Thailand: U.S...
...aid until April 1956...
...It needs nearly $800 million to carry out the minimal "hard-core" program, and has requested a $500-million loan from the United States...
...It was estimated that a $ 126-million credit would be made available for these projects, carrying an annual interest rate of 2% per cent and payable in twelve annual installments...
...aid to all Asian nations...
...In addition, the Soviets have been developing a 30,000-acre mechanized farm, for which they supplied 69 tractors, 36 transport vehicles and 674 items of agricultural machinery...
Vol. 40 • December 1957 • No. 51
