Dear Editor
DEAR EDITOR LEI CHEN TRIAL I should like respectfully to urge that the American people reserve judgment as to the case of Lei Chen, the publisher and political figure now being arraigned on...
...One of these has it that the Vice President and Premier is becoming politically alienated from the Government headed by President Chiang Kai-shek, even to the extent that he is not attending to regular business...
...This correlation may occur, but Granick is at some pains to clarify his skepticism...
...An alternate hypothesis maintains that industrial maturation will not force political conservatism upon the USSR, because the dynamism of current Soviet policy springs from its position in the world political game rather than its internal social process...
...Furthermore, as has been testified to by more than one competent research scholar, if a genuine plebiscite were to be held on that island today, even under outside auspices, the people there would overwhelmingly vote in favor of the Nationalist Government headed by President Chiang Kai-shek...
...DAVID N. ROWE Member, Board of Directors, American-Asian Educational Exchange, Inc...
...This was the point of my review and I fail to see why a specialist on Soviet affairs, who is not merely a journalistic Kremlinologist, would be “disturbed” by it...
...Any effort in any way to associate him with the political activities and discontents of Lei Chen and his group is bound to fail, as this report clearly shows...
...The indictment should be available soon, and it will be followed by the taking of evidence before the court...
...I submit that this is totally untrue, and I base this statement on hours of private conversation with Chiang Ching-kuo which has convinced me that he is only a greater friend THE NEW LEADER welcomes comment and criticism on any of its features, but letters should not exceed 300 words...
...Granick’s point is more than a prudent hedge against a wrong guess...
...Various rumors are being gratuitously circulated in this country today by enemies of the Republic of China...
...The way to alienate those who are our friends and the friends of freedom on Taiwan is to convince them that we will aid and abet the subversion of the Government there, under any guise whatever, including that of supporting seditious utterances on the part of anyone...
...So long as the Nassers, Castros and Lumumbas of the world find it convenient to align themselves with the Kremlin, Soviet policy incorporates a dynamic element which is quite independent of its economic maturation or social stabilization...
...On this view, if America wishes to regain the initiative in the world arena, American policy will have to act vigorously to deprive the USSR of its dynamic association with the new states rather than await patiently the conservative impulse that must surge within Russia as her economy matures...
...That Government steadily and progressively has given them conditions of social and economic welfare and political liberty previously unknown in Taiwan or any other province of modern China, and obviously vastly superior to those under Communist slavery on the mainland...
...DEAR EDITOR LEI CHEN TRIAL I should like respectfully to urge that the American people reserve judgment as to the case of Lei Chen, the publisher and political figure now being arraigned on various charges in Taiwan...
...The passage he quotes is clear evidence of Granick’s doubt that industrial maturation must entail political conservatism in the USSR...
...When the evidence is all in, interested Americans may make up their own minds as to the merits of the Chinese Government’s case against Lei...
...Jean Cap Ferrat, France DANIEL LERNER...
...New Haven, Conn...
...It is essential to cast doubt on theories of a predetermined Soviet future which, if wrong, could lead American policy into disastrous errors...
...It is also asserted that General Chiang Ching-kuo, the son of the President and the head of the Secret Police, is not a friend of the United States...
...The fact is that Taiwan is merely a province of China, in which the seat of the National Government of the Republic of China is now located...
...of the United States than he is an enemy of Communism...
...It is currently being asserted in this country that Lei is really being tried for political reasons connected with his desire to see that Taiwan is governed by the Taiwan Chinese and not by a government dominated by Chinese who fled the mainland to escape the Communist takeover there...
...Those who wonder about this should read the text of the report which the Premier made to the 26th Session of the Legislative Yuan in Taipei on September 20...
...Although no Chinese province has ever had full local self-government, Taiwan under the Nationalist Government enjoys degree of local self-rule which is unprecedented by modern Chinese standards...
...This is what I bad in mind when I found Granick’s skepticism concerning the thesis of inevitable conservatism an admirable antidote to current writings, which, by overlooking the relevant evidence, present a far too simple case for a far too dangerous American complacency...
...What else is the meaning of his statement: “If these theories should in fact turn out to be correct, it will not be due to the rise of a Soviet ‘managerial class...
...RED EXECUTIVES’ It is not clear to me why Jerry F. Hough is “disturbed” (“Dear Editor,” NL, September 19) by my review of David Granick’s The Red Executive...
...The Premier is evidently very much attending to business as usual...
...Skepticism about theories that foreclose the future is indispensable in all policy research...
Vol. 43 • October 1960 • No. 39
