OURSELVES AND CHINA
By NIGEL TANGYE
R. WENDELL WILLKIE, on his return to America from his recent tour of the battle-fronts, gave expression to the nwelcome truth that neither the Russian nor the Chinese people bias happy about the aims and achievements of the United Nations In so far as they affected Russia and China. We knew Russia's Views on this already, but it was something of a shock to learn that bur Chinese allies were equally emphatic on the matter. But the Salutary shock did not last long, for very shortly afterwards we
Learned that the British and American Governments had renounced eir extra-territorial rights in China. There, at least, was an gamest of our good faith, acknowledged with gratitude by the !Generalissimo himself ; things between us were not so bad after all. This reaction is unfortunately wrong. But only the few appreciate he true position.
The attitude of the British public to the war in China is ironic. There is not a man who has not unstinted admiration and gratitude . tor the tremendous achievements of China during the last four )resrs, and who would not subscribe to any agency designed to aid the Chinese people. But we have a lot on our hands nearer home, and because Chula is so far away we are compelled to think of practical and direct aid to our allies in terms of the future. A speaker has only to mention Russia or China to evoke cheers from the hearts of his hearers. The cheers for Russia are fused with a con- pciousness that we are sacrificing British lives, much effort, and a Vast quota of British weapons that we could well find a use for purselves, in helping the Russian people to stem the invader. We do give Russia more than cheers. But China?
Not so long ago a Chinese told me that as he listened to the ppplause at a public meeting when the speaker mentioned China he felt "a little sad." Six million dead and wounded and sixty million refugees had been the cost of those cheers. If we forget that 8o per cent. of Japan's war materials were being supplied by various partners in the now United Nations until the Axis Triple Alliance was formed in 1940, it is not unreasonable for the Chinese to remember. But if they remember, as indeed they do, the memory Js miraculously free from rancour. Recrimination has no place in their character. "We see events through the eyes of history," said a Chinese officer to me, "so that recrimination on events is not possible. But we must note events in order to learn by them."
This "seeing events through the eyes of history" is perhaps the key to the stubborn resistance of China against what for years seemed to the outside world to be an overwhelming foe. Certainly It is the reason given to me by this same officer for the rejection pf peace parleys offered by Hitler at the time of the closing of the Purma Road. No logic could have dictated the decision to continue Iredstance when the only lifeline for arms had been cut and the Axis was triumphing in both the East and the West. But China had no thought but to go on alone, as did Britain away on the other side of the world ; and it is the common spirit that prompted those decisions that forms the firm foundation of brotherhood between the two countries. Distance, and circumstance, prevent that brother- hood from developing into immediate and practical co-operation. In China, where there are unhappily seeds of disappointment over our policy, there is no feeling of recrimination to delay co-operation; and in this country there are the spontaneous cheers for China that may make the Chinese feel "a little sad" but that nevertheless promise well for the seizure of the first opportunity to send abundant aid.
In the meantime much could be done to educate the two peoples regarding their outlook and problems as they affect one another. A start coulcl be made by ceasing to call Manchuria by the Japanese name of Manchukuo. We would hardly be tolerant with a Chinese spokesman who called Singapore by the name of Shonan-to. And we could with advantage stop referring to a Chinaman when we mean a Chinese. Those are comparatively simple errors to rectify. There are others that are not so simple. A Chinese will tell you that he would a hundred times sooner deal with a Briton who had never been to China than one of the " experts " who have lived a lifetime there, but who are inclined to retain their first impression of the Chinese as the predominant one in their minds. These people still cling to their conception of the old China, yet, as a leading Chinese over here suggested to me, it is to this class of " expert " that Mr. Eden has to turn when he is in need of advice.
This, whether we like it or not, is a problem that must be faced. The Chinese complain—though " complain " is a word that does them an injustice—that they rarely have an opportunity of meeting the ordinary man or woman, the representative type that won the Battle of Britain. Representatives of the N.F.S., the A.T.S., the Trade Unions, the junior ranks of the R.A.F. and other Services sometimes get as far as America, but they never get to China. The Chinese would delight in such men and women as these visiting China so that the prevalent idea of a superior Englishman with a monocle and a passion for hunting foxes could be dispelled. They will tell you quite frankly, and with the utmost politeness, that Members of Parliament and high-ranking Service Officers would be very much more welcome if they brought with them the Man in the Street. Is not this wish a most healthy one, to be fostered without delay? At any rate it is an opportunity to back those cheers with action.
The Chinese conviction is that Japan will meet her final defeat in China, and that this will be materially helped by bombing Japanese cities from Chinese bases. "The Chinese are tough," said a Chinese airman to me, "and the British are tough. But the Japanese—they are brittle." It is this assessment of the Japanese stamina that is the reason for China's call for increased aid now from the United Nations. They believe that the war in the Far East can be short-circuited by the development of a bombing-offensive against Japan from Chinese bases. And when they read of t,oco bomber-raids over Germany and huge fighter-sweeps over Northern France, they wonder why no aircraft can be spared for them. There are in fact very good reasons for this and it is foolish and impolitic to keep them to ourselves. Much that is not secret, but which would eyplain apparent anomalies, could be disseminated by the Ministry of Information—and another cause of disappointment in our effort would go far to being removed.
And, of course, the Chinese await impatiently the re-conquest of Burma so that the Burma Road may be re-opened. How many of us realise that the supply route florn the West is from Bushire, through Iran, up to Samarkand and on into North-West China, a distance of 4,500 miles? And at the end of it is the Chinese Army fighting against an enemy equipped with tanks, aeroplanes and heavy artillery, none of which can be manufactured in China. For her stand against such odds we owe her more than we can ever repay. What she asks of us in the future was summarised by a Chinese in London the other day: "Freedom, Equality and justice —and no condescension." On their part there is no recrimination. On ours, let there be no more condescension.
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