Since the outbreak of the Korean war, the suggestion has been made from time to time in various quarters that the naval forces of the democratic nations participating in the joint action against the North Korean and Chinese Communists should carry out a blockade of the Chinese mainland. During the earlier stages of the war the suggestion was made in the hope that such a naval blockade, especially if coupled with the bombing of strategic centers on both sides of the Great Wall, would reduce the war-making ability of the Chinese Communists by cutting off their supply of many essential materials and thereby force them to withdraw from the Korean battlefield, while after the commencement of the truce talks it was hoped that a blockade of Red China would not fail to impress the Peiping regime with the determination of the United Nations and compel it to come to terms. It is widely believed that the United States, who is bearing by far the greatest part of the burden of the U. N. campaign in Korea, has not been averse to the adoption of such a policy but has been dissuaded from insisting on it because of the strong pressure brought to bear upon her by certain influential allies. The result is that the United Nations now does not have the slightest intention to enforce a naval blockade of the Chinese mainland. Instead it is being urged that the U. N. negotiators must continue to show the utmost patience at the truce talks and that an ultimatum should never be served on the Communists. From the standpoint of the fundamental principles of the U. N. Charter and the original objectives of the present police action on the Korean Peninsula, namely, the creation of a unified and independent Korea, what we are now witnessing in that country presents a truly tragic picture. The United Nations has plunged into a war which it no longer has the will to win. The initiative has entirely passed into the hands of the enemy. The truce talks will last indefinitely if such be the will of the Communists, who through the employment of their stalling tactics have been able to augment their fighting strength both on the ground and in the air. Whatever concessions the U. N. negotiators may make at Panmunjom, the best they can hope to achieve is only a temporary peace. In the face of such a situation, the United Nations should at least enforce a naval blockade of Red China in order to make the Chinese Communists understand that the U. N. forces are far from being powerless in dealing with them. Against such a blockade, we believe, neither the Peiping regime nor Soviet Russia is in a position to take effective retaliatory action.