AN ASIAN POLICY

...4—The security of the countries adjoining or near the frontiers of China such as Viet Nam, Thailand, Burma, the Philippines, and Japan...

...The current negotiations and the shift of the Soviet Communists to a peace offensive have revived hope that a cease-fire agreement will at long last be reached...

...A far-reaching revolution has occurred in our economic as well as our political foreign relations...

...The best way to do this would appear to be for us to act on the beliefs: (1) that the future of Korea and Formosa and the freedom of the independent states of Asia are primarily international rather than American responsibilities...

...Until a world system of collective security has been so well established that the advocates of international class wars have become convinced of their futility, the United States must be prepared to resist both aggression and intimidation...

...In the light of all this Asian leaders do not accept, as many Americans do, the belief that Mao Tse-tung and his Communists will always take orders from Moscow, or that Russian and Chinese interests are bound to coincide merely because both are Communist-controlled...

...The aim of such a program would not be defense against Communism or imperialism or any other ism, but to preserve peace, safeguard freedom, and increase the well-being of all men...

...The development of our economy has made us a "have not" nation, increasingly dependent on foreign sources for the raw materials our industry uses...

...The evidence seems to show that the North Korean attack was made without the connivance of the Chinese Communists and with little if any advance notice to them...

...But they are also basic causes for international violence...

...HAROLD FISHER, who regards himself as a "displaced primitive Repub-¦ lican Vermonter," is I a leading American I authority on Russia I and the Far East...

...Among the matters" on which agreement must be reached before normal diplomatic relations could be established are: 1—The release and repatriation of American missionaries and other citizens who wish to return to the U.S...

...In spite of the efforts of many progressive Chinese Nationalists, the regime on Formosa is hampered by top-heavy military and political bureaucracies and by competing political police organizations who use the danger of Communist infiltration, which is real, as an excuse for eliminating political rivals...

...We can make it clear to them that in spite of our dislike of their ways of doing business we would be prepared, under certain conditions, to deal with the Chinese Communist-dominated government both in and outside the UN...

...Hard Truths and Hopeful Directions for Americans By A Noted Authority on Russia and the Far East An Asian Policy For This Hour of Decision By H. H. Fisher DURING THE Administration of George Washington the first American ship, appropriately named the Empress of China, dropped anchor off Canton...

...Korea is more complicated...

...Three—The achievement of progressively higher levels of material well-being for ourselves and others...

...V We can advance in the preservation of peace and freedom only if we also advance toward the third goal of achieving higher levels of material well-being...

...Yugoslavia's break away from Russian domination has helped safeguard the freedom of Greece, Turkey, and other Middle Eastern countries...

...Two—The safeguarding and extension of free institutions—cultural, civil, political, and economic...

...Asian leaders would be practically unanimous in opposing a U.S.-supported Nationalist invasion of the mainland...

...In this increasingly interdependent world, higher levels of material well-being can be achieved only by international cooperation in the exchange of goods, persons, skills, ideas, and services...

...II The preservation of peace depends not only on the belief in the possibility of peace, but also in being strong enough to resist aggression and to help others resist aggression...

...in 1950, 58 per cent of our total imports came from these countries...

...It is certainly not to make it an American protectorate...

...We have shown that the free world offers an alternative to the captivity of the Soviet bloc...

...This threat of civil war or alien attack will cause abiding hostility in China against the United States...

...A great many of the most influential Asian leaders look at the Communist victory in China not as a victory for Russia but as an Asian victory over colonialism...

...Since Formosa is culturally and historically Chinese and lies close to the mainland of China, our long-range policy is bound to look to the reunion of Formosa with the rest of China if and when this can be accomplished with assurance about two things: (1) That the Formosans and the mainlanders on Formosa shall be protected against Communist vengeance...

...Another freedom problem is this: Does a nation that falls victim to a Communist dictatorship automatically become an enemy of the United States and remain one until it has been liberated...

...Peace cannot be firmly established unless the government and people of China are permitted to take part in international organizations like the United Nations...

...The repatriation of Americans would involve no sacrifice by the Communists but only an abandonment of the practices of the Hung-hut-zu of China and of bandits, pirates, and other outlaws who in the past have kidnapped individuals for ransom or as hostages...

...He has been chairman oi the Hoover Institute and Library, director of the Civil Affairs Training School and the School of Naval Administration, and professor of history at Stanford...

...In the Administration of John Tyler we made our first treaty with China...

...The Chinese Communists can never shoot their way into the United Nations...

...We can do so only by knowledge of and cooperation with the Asian nations...

...It is, in their view, a step toward liberation, not enslavement...

...In the meantime, we shall lose much of what we have gained if we do not take advantage of the ceasefire to rehabilitate and develop Korean cultural and economic institutions...

...Whatever other effects may ensue, Stalin's death is bound to result in an increase in the authority of Mao Tse-tung both as a Communist leader and as a leader of the revolution in Asia...

...Just as important is the need to discover how to use the radio, movies, and other means of mass education, to spread knowledge of the new technology without causing a sudden and com'plete rejection of ancient ways...

...Freedom could be safeguarded and extended with our aid, and Formosa could become "a pilot plant for testing and demonstrating the contributions that science and democracy can make to life in the Far East...

...A Briton with much experience in China and great knowledge of the Chinese Communists puts the problem this way: "If there is to be any actual peaceful settlement of international problems in the Far East, the Americans must be prepared to accept the fact that, in the foreseeable future, dealing with China means dealing with the Communists...

...9, 1952), that we could secure UN recognition of Nationalist authority on Formosa...

...Chinese experts believe that within six years, if this program is continued, Formosa will become self-supporting and, by Asian standards, prosperous...

...We have taken the line in the case of Yugoslavia that a Communist government is not a permanent bar to political, economic, and cultural relations with the United States...

...Even before Stalin's death some political scientists were suggesting that the ideological center of world communism might shift from Moscow to Peking...

...This is obviously a remote and difficult objective, but unless we make known to the world that our objective is not to hold the island, we provide ammunition for our enemies who claim that our true objective in Asia is not peace but power...

...They in turn received 31 per cent of their imports from the United States...

...Whether we agree with these views or not, we must take them into account in the pursuit of the goals of peace, freedom, and progress...

...If we do not believe that peaceful co-existence is possible and do not act in this belief, we have little chance of escaping the incalculable disaster of a war that the techniques of total war will visit upon us along with the rest of humanity...

...No one can give a certain answer, but I believe that the history of relations with Communist governments since the first one seized power in Russia in 1917 and our knowledge of Communist theory, strategy, and tactics justify the belief that we have a better than fifty-fifty chance of avoiding or preventing a total war for a long time...

...Experience has shown that the technology and methods of economically advanced countries cannot be transplanted unchanged to underdeveloped countries...

...what they need is capital-saving devices...

...In the Administration of Franklin Pierce, Chinese officials were saying that the "Flowery Flag devils" had come to China to enrich themselves, subvert the Chinese, and spread ruin and chaos...

...and (2) that Formosa shall not be used as a base for attack against the Philippines, or Hong Kong, or Japan, or Viet Nam...

...But we have failed to bring about equivalent progress in military training and organization or in the preservation and extension of individual freedoms...

...do we believe it is possible to preserve peace, that is, to avoid for an indefinite time total war with countries governed by Communist parties...

...The distinction between the freedom of the free world democracies and the totalitarianism of the Communist dictatorships which is so clear to us, is not nearly so clear to the Asians...

...It is a necessary step toward the goals of peace, freedom, and progress, but it will not solve the Korean problem...

...To them the more important issue is imperialism, past, present, and future, and they never forget that the most experienced imperialists are the Western democracies...

...This would relieve the Chinese Nationalists and Formosans of the fear that their security depends on the turns of fortune in American domestic politics...

...We have promoted such exchanges since World War II as measures of national defense against Communism...

...policy on Formosa should recognize that training Chinese to fight Chinese is not enough, and that it is no less important to prove on Formosa that Asians can achieve greater economic, educational, and political benefits under the institutions of freedom than under a totalitarian system...

...The first was to prevent the Americans and United Nations forces from controlling the frontier along the Yalu adjoining the industrial region of Manchuria so vitally important to China...

...The Formosa problem is almost as difficult as the Korean, but some attempt must be made to deal with it if we are going to advance toward the goal of peace in Asia...

...We could and should make it clear that we would be prepared to deal with the Chinese Communists because we believe that only through international relations and institutions can we hope that in time the Chinese leaders will desist from imitating the worst features of totalitarian despots and accept the fundamental obligations of civilized states...

...What is the long-range American goal with respect to Formosa...

...Do we have any national aims in Asia by which to judge the soundness of current policies and proposals...

...3—The status of Formosa and of the Chinese nationalists now there...

...Anything that makes it possible for China to make a similar move would help both to safeguard and to extend freedom in Asia...

...It would tend to relieve Asians of the fear of American imperialism...

...With few exceptions, Asian leaders have no confidence in the ability of Chiang Kai-shek to liberate China from the Communists...

...The leaders of both of our parties have frequently reaffirmed their aim is to preserve peace, and some of them have agreed that it is possible...

...The Chinese Communist party cannot take any practical steps towards peace so long as it insists . . . that peace can only be obtained through an alleged 'peoples' movement' led by the Communists and their associates...

...The American government and people will never be intimidated by Communist bluster and abuse into recognizing the present Peiping regime...

...The decisive battles ahead are more likely to be fought on economic and cultural than on military fronts...

...The first question is, DR...

...It has been suggested by Albert Ravenholt, in The Reporter (Dec...

...The preservation of the freedom of a united Korea, the protection of Formosa while the problems of its reunion with the mainland are dealt with, and the security of Viet Nam, Burma, Thailand, the Philippines, and Japan are all problems that can be more satisfactorily worked out through the United Nations...

...The Communist "peace" strategy will test our capacity to lead the way toward peace and progress as well as to hold the line in the defense of freedom...

...The Chinese intervention served two purposes of which the second may, in the long run, be more important...

...The long-range aim of peace and the elimination of international discord cannot possibly be realized without political, economic, and cultural relations between the government and people of the United States and the government and peoples of Asia, particularly of China...

...2) that the UN should be strengthened to meet these responsibilities...

...Ill The Chinese Communists, by their attitude toward the British government which has recognized them and by their hate campaign against the United States, have shown no desire -to have friendly relations with Britons or Americans...

...They were looked upon as emergency measures because poverty, hunger, ignorance, and oppression are the ingredients of social discontent on which Communism takes root and grows...

...The second goal of our proposed Asian policy, the safeguarding and extension of free institutions, involves, first of all, safeguarding the independence of nations against direct and indirect aggression...

...We depend on the underdeveloped areas for 73 per cent in value of the strategic materials we are stockpiling...

...Our resources are limited, and we must use them wisely...

...A stronger affirmation of the American belief that peace is not only desirable but possible, would have a good effect not only in Asia but among all people where the fear of war is in every heart and where Communist peace propaganda is belied by Communist theories of the inevitability and desirability of class wars and wars of liberation...

...Investigation in cooperation with local experts is necessary to determine what kind of development projects are adapted to climate, sources of energy, and other conditions...

...It is important to remember, however, that this is a short-range necessity and cannot by itself furnish a long-range solution of the problem of peace and security...

...It is sound policy to train Asians to fight Asians so long as we train and equip Koreans as effectively for civil as for military responsibilities...

...This does not mean that all we have to do is to expel the representatives of the Chinese Nationalist government and invite the Chinese Communist Peoples government to take their places...

...Such a conference cannot possibly be confined to problems of the Korean peninsula...

...The pressure on our government will be even greater after a ceasefire than it now is to make decisions regarding such matters as diplomatic relations with the Chinese Communists inside and outside the UN, the status of Formosa, and the security of Japan, the Philippines, and Southeast Asia...

...This is exceedingly difficult to do...

...I believe that most Americans will agree with the Committee for Economic Development that three goals embody the deepest aspirations of our people: "One—The preservation of peace, and the elimination of the causes of international discord and ill-will...

...Let us \ook first at some of the problems of our relations with Asia that are involved in the preservation of peace...

...For this reason, if for no other, the time has come for the politicians in Washington and the rest of us to call off the tempting game of trying to make partisan political capital out of events and issues raised by the revolution in China and other parts of Asia...

...An Australian authority on China, C. P. Fitzgerald, says in his Revolution in China, "So long as Chiang Kai-shek, with American recognition and massive financial and material support, remains in possession of the island and rules over its eight million inhabitants, there can be no final peace for China . . ." He goes on to say that if this American policy continues indefinitely, Formosa must become a protectorate of the United States and in case of war a base for air attacks on China...

...The United States obviously does not wish and cannot afford to undertake to police the entire world and resist and punish aggressors wherever they commit aggression...

...but the Chinese Communist party must equally be prepared to accept the fact that dealing with America or the British Commonwealth means dealing with non-Communists...

...As in the case of Korea, U.S...

...that we should do this without requiring that they renounce their Communist faith and without implying that we either like or approve Communist dogmas or the totalitarian practices of a Communist dictatorship...

...The draft armistice agreement provides that in three months after the cease-fire becomes effective, a higher level political conference shall be held...

...We can help the Chinese come to the conclusion that hate and undeclared wars do not pay by making it clear to them and the rest of the world that we do not consider they have excluded themselves forever from taking part in the common affairs of humanity...

...and (3) that the Asian members should be encouraged to take a greater share of those responsibilities...

...I He has traveled I widely in Russia, the I Middle East, Asia, I and the Pacific, and I has written many I books and articles on I Russian - American -Asian relations...

...Labor-saving devices will not help countries with a surplus of labor...

...In examining proposals for dealing with these matters it might be well to ask these questions: (1) Are they directed toward the goals of peace, freedom, and progress, or at some immediate political advantage...

...Communism, it seemed, could make further conquests at less cost in Asia than elsewhere...

...The second purpose achieved by Chinese intervention was to make North Korea a satellite of China rather than of Russia...

...Regardless of the American opinion of Communists, we shall be unwise to ignore the fact that others hold different views...

...We cannot escape the consequences of the economic interdependence of the free nations which our science and enterprise have done so much to produce...

...And the Russian Communists, suffering from hardening of the intellectual arteries, would become less able than the Chinese to adjust their policies to new conditions...

...It would relieve the Chinese on the mainland of the fear of a return of the horrors of war...

...Since it is obviously to the advantage of the Soviet Union in furthering its ambitions for world power to keep China dependent on Russia for political and economic support, it would seem to be good policy to make it clear to the Chinese and other Asians that there is an alternative to submission to Russian domination...

...We have only about six per cent of the world's population and seven per " cent of its area, but we produce 50 per cent of the whole world's industrial output...

...IV Our immediate aim in Korea is to bring to an end the tragic costs of the fighting...

...We are slowly developing a method based on the principle that Asian problems—security, trade, economic and social development—can be solved only with the participation of Asians...

...The encouragement of these exchanges, therefore, is not merely a short-term means of defense but a long-term policy of peace and progress...

...Our economic aid program and particularly the Chinese and American Joint Commission on Rural Reconstruction have made impressive demonstrations of the free system as an alternative to Communism by increasing industrial, grain, and animal production, by encouraging grass roots rural associations for health and education, and economic cooperation by reducing land rents from 50 to 60 per cent of the crop to a maximum of 37.5 per cent, and by the encouragement of private ownership of land...

...This means protecting the right of peoples to governments of their own choosing...

...It does not mean telling them, as the Communists do, what kinds of governments they must choose...

...They regard the Nationalists as puppets of the United States and therefore representing American rather than Chinese interests...

...The North Korean Communist government and army were creations of the Russians, not of the Chinese...

...By defying the UN and by making war against its forces in Korea, the Chinese Communists have shown no great eagerness to cooperate in international agencies in the elimination of causes of conflict...

...2—The cessation of hostilities in Korea...

...American traders and missionaries were saying the time had come to annex Formosa, stop talking, and use force to show the haughty Chinese government that America was not to be trifled with...

...E.C.A., Point Four, and the Mutual Security and information programs are all effective unilateral actions that involve the cooperation of Asians, but for meeting the issues raised by the Chinese Communists and the advocates of neutralism or independent policies, our unilateral programs should be supplemented by a joint developmental program, at first regional, which is open to the participation of all Asian and Pacific countries, regardless of their form of government...

...2) Will they strengthen the free world through unity and cooperation, or will they weaken it through conflicts and the isolation of the United States upon which the viability of the free world depends...

...It is not enough to send out as our representatives business men "who can talk cold turkey to foreign governments instead of bureaucratic lingo...

...In the Administration of Dwight Eisenhower we are as far away from China politically as we were in Washington's time, suspicion and hostility are more deep-seated than in Pierce's time, and we are in the midst of a revolution that makes our relations with China and Asia of concern to every American citizen...