Several countries of the free world appear to be changing their attitude toward the Republic of China in the wake of Canadian and Italian recognition of the Chinese Communists. The attempt to seat the Peiping regime in the United Nations was defeated once again at the meeting of the 25th General Assembly. Nevertheless, prospects are not so bright as of the start of 1971.
Advocates of appeasement have regrettably stirred up an adverse current in the free world's confrontation against Communism. As vanguards of the anti-Communist struggle, we should not evade or attempt to escape from the necessity of facing up to this countercurrent. Rather, we need to watch developments, try to understand the reasons for changing tides and undertake an overall review. Once we understand the problem, we can consolidate our forces and move forward to the final victory in this revolutionary struggle.
Above all, we need to remember that the destiny of China will be decided by the success or failure of our anti-Communist endeavors. Anything else is of trivial importance and does not deserve serious concern.
Although the anti-Communist struggle is in full swing, it has become the riddle of our times. This is because many people of the free world consider that negotiation has replaced confrontation and that struggle is disappearing from the earth. Such a gap between wishful thinking and reality has summoned a riptide to disrupt the steadily pounding surf of the free world's anti-Communism.
Those who hold to the view that the battle is over are suffering from self-intoxication induced by looking at the world through rose-colored glasses. Our certainty that the anti-Communist struggle rages more fiercely than ever can be compared to a drama in which all the guests have drunk their fill and dozed off. Only one man remains awake to give warning of impending catastrophe. The fact that we have remained awake not only protects others but assures the ultimate and decisive victory of the anti-Communist cause.
Because they have gone to sleep and lost touch with reality, many of the free world's people have fallen into error in these five respects:
1. World War III actually got under way some time ago. The varieties of war employed by the Communists are incredibly varied. Too many people regard this as peacetime. Whether the war be called hot or cold, it is still war and it is boiling up around us here and now.
2. We are engaged in a war to resist Communist domination of the world. In attacking their enemies. the Communists resort to assassination and then proceed to genocide. The United States is currently the No. 1 enemy but all the other free countries are to be taken over, too. Most free people think of the United States and the Soviet Union as engaged in a 19th century-style war for global hegemony. They wrongly consider that other countries should stand aloof or get what they can out of the struggle.
3. Communists aggress totally, employing political, diplomatic, cultural and social means. Yet many of the world's peoples do not realize that the Communists are at the bottom of social unrest within the free countries. Such people think that war with the Communists can be ended by conclusion of a truce.
4. World conquest and the control of mankind is the unchanging objective of Communism. There will be no peace until these goals have been attained or the Communists have been defeated and destroyed. Yet many people of the free world hope for a compromise between total victory and total defeat. They want to negotiate the end of a war which the enemy has pronounced unnegotiable.
5. Internal contradictions of Communism are undeniably of sizable magnitude. Nevertheless, the Communists agree on goals and follow congruous methods in their external aggressions. This is exemplified in the conduct of Moscow and Peiping. Although their differences run deep, the Russian and Chinese Communists both regard the United States as their supreme enemy and cooperate in tactical matters. The free world in general and the United States in particular are making a serious mistake by attempting to play on Communism's contradictions. Peiping cannot be stopped by cozying up to Moscow or vice versa.
Many leaders of the free world have fallen into such erroneous thinking. As a consequence, the democracies have lost the position of command which they held at the end of World War II and are heading into a morass of defeatism. The following setbacks have resulted:
First, the Chinese Communists were able to take advantage of the Republic of China's preoccupation with the Sino-Japanese War and expand their sphere of influence. In disregard of all warning signals, the United States encouraged coalition of the Chinese Communists and the Kuomintang (Nationalist Party). 'This error of judgment finally led to Communist usurpation of Chinese mainland political power and brought expansive Communist aggression to the Far East.
Second, U.S. and U.N. forces settled down to a policy of no advance and no victory in the Korean War. The first and possibly the last punitive forces dispatched by the United Nations were compelled to settle for peace with the aggressors. This undermined the prestige of the world organization.
Third, the Korean mistake was repeated in Vietnam. The United States is the strongest country in the world, yet it has permitted itself to be bogged down in Vietnam for 10 years by a regime of third or perhaps fourth rank. All efforts of the United States to extricate itself from the Indochina peninsula have failed. Extrication without either victory or defeat is difficult, if not impossible.
Fourth, the Communists have conducted successful aggressions in the Middle East, Latin America, Africa and Western Europe. They succeeded because they were able to take advantage of the psychological weakness of the free world countries, which are unwilling to face the reality that war already exists.
The Soviet Union follows a strategy of gradualism in its encroachments on the free world. Smallscale political preponderance is sought through smallscale military actions. Aggressions are deliberately limited so as not to invite counterattack, especially from the United States. Communists take advantage of the prevailing free world belief that it doesn't matter if the Reds take a little at a time. To avoid a head-on collision, the Communists invade little by little, take some here and some there, and move forward toward their real objectives like silkworms devouring mulberry leaves. They proceed on the basis that "every little makes a mickle," that a large number of small victories eventually will add up to the one overwhelming and decisive triumph to assure their domination and the end of freedom and democracy.
Developments in the Middle East illustrate the Soviet Union's pattern of encroachment. The Arab defeat of 1967 lowered Russian prestige in the Middle East. For the last three years, the U.S.S.R. has been rebuilding the armed forces of the United Arab Republic, especially the air force, and has supplied missiles and launchers. Moscow's principal objective is control of the Suez Canal. Planes and pilots have been sent; the latter have engaged in combat as well as training. About half of the UAR combat air force is manned by Soviet fliers.
The United States kept silent when the Soviet Union sent Russian-manned MIGs over the Nile. So the Kremlin then advanced them to the Suez Canal to see what the Americans would do. There still was no response, and the U.S.S.R. thereupon moved missile battalions to the banks of the canal. This was too much for Israel. At long last, severely prodded by Israel, the United States was compelled to raise its voice. The Soviet Union thereupon changed its role overnight. The behind-the-scenes manipulator of aggression pretended to be a mediator and peacemaker, and joined the United States in seeking a truce.
While overtly supporting an armistice, the Soviet Union was clandestinely helping the UAR complete installation of missile emplacements along the Suez Canal. Israel then refused to go ahead with peace talks and demanded removal of the missiles. Moscow cares nothing about the negotiations but its strategy was effective. Peace discussions have been resumed, although the missiles are still in place. Having again advanced its position with a small encroachment, the Soviet Union now can stand back to mock the United States and pledge further support to the UAR while that country boldly proclaims it will not renew the truce in February and will launch all-out war against Israel within six months.
Most regrettable of all is the approaching loss of American nuclear superiority. The United States has maintained its topmost position since the end of World War II. Now the Soviet Union is about to catch up. The Communist aggressors are understandably elated.
The deterioration of the international situation is a matter of deep concern. Yet we should not lose ourselves in pessimism, because the key to victory is still in the hands of the free world. The world situation can be changed when free men are prepared to face up to reality and correct their negative views.
There are two main forces in the Communist bloc - those of Moscow and Peiping. Moscow threatens the free world with nuclear weapons and Peiping with "people's war." Both of these threats are exaggerated by free world fears. The Communists dare to carry out their aggressive schemes only because they are aware that free world countries seek to escape the reality of a war which has already begun.
A preponderance of nuclear power once was held by the United States. Should Americans abandon their wishful hope of seclusion, peace and prosperity, the United States could quickly mobilize its strength and forge far ahead once again. The Russians are really no match for the Americans in the nuclear race If the aggressive intentions of the U.S.S.R. are to be countered, the United States must abandon its permissiveness, accept its responsibility and assume its proper role of world leadership.
As for the Chinese Communists, they can be considered as no more than the wings of the Russian Communists. Free Asian countries can and should cooperate with the United States to cut off these wings. Americans have now come to understand that it was a mistake to involve their land forces deeply in such a conflict as that of Vietnam. The fighting of anti-Communist wars by Asian peoples may be a new concept but it is the right one. Americans can help but Asians must settle their own problems.
Chinese Communists eternally talk of the people. Yet they dare not measure the number of people who are in favor of their regime. The Chinese Communist stalemate in the Korean War was achieved only because the United States committed strategic mistakes. Peiping has committed a colossal error in concluding that the primitive tactic of Yenan can be used to sweep the whole world before it. The invincibility of "people's war" is one of the principal Communist myths.
In truth, the Chinese Communists are fighting against the people. This is demonstrated in their recent revision of the Peiping "constitution." Because Mao could not find people to support him, he was compelled to stipulate in the draft of the revised "constitution" that the "most fundamental rights and duties of citizens" are to "support Mao Tse-tung." The "draft constitution" is an open avowal of Mao's contempt for the people of China.
Mao is aware of the opposition of the mainland people. He therefore could only enumerate the organization and functions of "state organs" set forth in the "constitution." He dared not establish any procedures for election of the regime's "president." To conceal this defect, Mao has papered himself into the regime with such meaningless but fancy titles as "chief of state," "great leader" and "supreme commander." He has placed himself atop the pyramid of the people only in an effort to control and exploit them.
Communist Party and the military have been utilized as substitutes for "state organs" in controlling and exploiting the people of the Chinese mainland. The combination of party and military strength has been exercised through the "revolutionary committees.' which are made up of representatives from the armed forces, party cadres and the masses. At both central and local levels, the "revolutionary committees" have become the core of political power.
Realizing that he was despised by the people, Mao initiated the "cultural revolution" in an attempt to create new control and power centers. These committees are supposed to be a "three-in-one combination" of PLA, Communist Party and people. In reality, this is a superstructure which has nothing to do with the people. Elements of the committees can be broken down as follows:
Armed forces-Only officers are invested with command. Supposedly those without the support of their men cannot rise to power. Which of these commanders can be sure that the lower echelon will not defect to freedom, as did the 14,000 Chinese Communist prisoners-of-war captured by the U.N. during the Korean War? These POWs chose freedom in Taiwan in preference to a return to slavery on the mainland.
Communist Party cadres-These are largely senior members of the Communist Party who became the target of the Red Guards during the "cultural revolution." Only Mao could rehabilitate them; he was compelled to give them a helping hand.
Masses-These are the Red Guards of the "cultural revolution." But there are few of them and they are dominated by armed forces and party cadres.
With the "draft constitution," Mao Tse-tung is trying to control the people by assuming a political power that they have not endorsed and which they do not approve. He doesn't have any other choice. To save his regime from internal chaos, Mao has been compelled to create a generalized "national crisis" in which he becomes the leader and "protector of the people." Any member of the free world community who thinks Mao is changing from aggression to coexistence does not know either his intention or what is happening on the mainland.
The communique closing the second plenary session of the Ninth Congress of the Chinese Communist Party declared that "we must further strengthen the solidarity of the proletarians, oppressed peoples and oppressed nationalities of the world so as to carry out to the very end our struggle against imperialism, revisionism and reactionarism." This is a declaration of war.
On the other hand, the free Chinese on Taiwan have carried out programs of peaceful political and economic development. Despite hardship, war, invasion and unending threat, the Republics of Korea and Vietnam have made great political advances and satisfied the aspirations of their people for freedom and democracy. These gains and this anti-Communist strength cannot be eroded by any countercurrent of appeasement. The people have already made up their mind; the sign they give is thumbs-down on Communism.
There will be an end of appeasement and negotiation. Bewildered people of the free world must awake sooner or later. When all those who are free and want to be free decide to walk the same road - whether in Asia or elsewhere in the world - anti-Communist strength will become invincible. If need be, the anti-Communists of Asia will provide the vanguard. We prefer that the United States take the lead. Americans are capable of redeeming the world. But if they choose the role of appeasers, free Asians will not shirk their responsibility.
Free men facing the menace of Communist aggression will not stand, hands behind their backs, to be destroyed. They will fight back and they will win. As a Chinese' proverb has it, "The virtuous are not alone and the righteous are surrounded by good neighbors." In the end, all of those who truly believe in freedom and democracy will take their positions on the frontlines of the anti-Communist struggle.
The Republic of China has been disappointed by the countercurrents of appeasement which have arisen since President Nixon took office. People of free China are convinced that the assistance of the United States is essential to the final victory. We believe, however, that the United States cannot desert the cause of free people and free nations. Its own security would be sacrificed if it were to betray its loyal allies.
Taken as a whole, the free world constitutes an undefeatable fighting entity. In the global war against Communism, those who seek peace and drop out of the battle formation have no hope of independent survival. No fluke of luck can save them. But those who stand firm in the rank and file of the struggle, and who fight the good fight courageously because that is the right way, will become the leaders of a new era of freedom and democracy.