• HAMMARSKJOLD GOES EAST Mr. Nehru is an estimable man,
and imagination can be forgiven for boggling at the prospect of India without him; but his worthiness does not prevent him from being at times remarkably silly. He likes to think the Chinese may be right in the case of the American airmen, and the United Nations wrong. But the Chinese themselves are supremely uninterested in the rights and wrongs of the case. If a spy scare happens to be useful for consumption either at home or abroad, then a spy scare there will most assuredly be. This time they must be hugging themselves (if that is a permitted Communist custom) with delight at the way in which everybody has tumbled into the trap—including the UN. Mr. HammarskjOld's visit may have its uses for other reasons; no harm will be done if it smooths the way for a less gritty co-existence between East and West. But he cannot—and it would be foolish to expect him to —persuade the Chinese to reconsider their decision in the case of the airmen. If the airmen are released, it will not be for love of Mr. Hammarskjold, or out of respect for the authority of the UN, but simply because the Chinese Government has come to the conclusion that their release would be expedient. The Chinese will, of course, expect a quid pro quo. But it need not be something tangible. On the contrary, they may prefer to befuddle world opinion by appearing to give way to a humani- tarian impulse. The point is that their decisions, whatever they are, are invariably based on political expediency. And that, in the long run, can be their weakness—provided that the West keeps its head, and pays no attention to such rapturous non- sense about China as Dr. Summerskill lately gushed at us.
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