Taiwan Today

The British delegates to the so-called World Economic Conference recently held in Moscow who signed a trade agreement with representatives of the Communist regime in Peiping must be men who are devoid of all sense of honor. Under this mutual trade agreement Britain and Communist China are each to sell to the other US$28,000,000 worth of goods in 1952. Britain's sales will consist of 35 per cent textiles, 30 per cent chemicals and 35 per cent metals of all kinds excluding copper and aluminum. To the British delegates, profit is obviously more important than honor. They have undoubtedly forgotten that the Peiping regime has been branded as aggressor by the United Nations, that British soldiers (though there are only a handful of them) have been fighting against the Chinese Communists in Korea for well over a year, and that the United Nations has enjoined all democratic nations who are members of the world organization to refrain from selling strategic materials to Communist China. Desire for commercial gains has blinded them to the fact that aside from copper and aluminum, the chemicals and metals they propose to sell to the Chinese Communists will include many materials of great strategic value. These strategic materials, if obtained by the Peiping regime, will surely help to strengthen its war machine and enable it either to continue its military operations in Korea or to commit acts of aggression elsewhere. In other words, by carrying on this kind of trade with the Chinese Communists Britain will make it possible for them to kill more of her own soldiers and those of her allies. That Britain could be so oblivious of her own interests and that of the democratic camp as a whole and could utterly ignore the principles of honor and justice is truly unbelievable. Those British delegates whet negotiated the aforesaid trade agreement in Moscow, just like the other delegates who attended the Soviet-sponsored World Economic Conference, must be either Communists or leftist fellow-travelers who can­ not be expected to have any anti-Communist sentiments. We are inclined to believe, there­fore, that this agreement was concluded without the approval or encouragement of the British Government. If such be the case, we hope Mr. Churchill will see to it that no strategic materials will ever get into the hands of the Communists.