Up to the end of the month under review, the democratic nations, especially the United States and Great Britain, seemed to have agreed on a soft peace treaty for Japan to make it a strong, anti-Communist nation linked with the West. Furthermore, in a step designed to iron out British-American differences over the eventual drafting of peace terms, John M. Allison, deputy to special presidential representative John Foster Dulles, was sent to London to argue against British desires to have restrictions on post-pact Japanese shipbuilding and textile manufacturing.
In order to ensure Australia, New Zealand and the Philippines against the fears of a militarily resurgent Japan after the signing of the treaty, the United States Government has ex pressed its willingness to take an active part in a Pacific Defense Pact patterned in a large degree after the North Atlantic Defense Pact.
To Free China, the peace treaty talks continue to be a riddle. None of the Pacific powers which fought the Japanese to the final victory has openly supported the claim of the National Government in Taiwan to a scat in the preparation and signing of the treaty. Certain British quarters have suggested the idea that the question as to whether the National Government or the Red regime should represent China can be left undecided for the time being.
Ever since V-J Day, the National Government of China has been pursuing a "forget and forgive" policy toward Japan. The Chinese people have been urged to be sympathetic and friendly toward the Japanese people. China's policy toward Japan, therefore, has peen one of understanding and benevolence, much along the same line as later adopted by the United States and other Pacific powers.
Over at Lake Success, the Good Office Committee has reported to the UN Assembly its failure to establish contact with Peiping. Many UN delegates as well as Secretary General Trygve Lie are reported to be studying the idea of sending a proposed to the North Korean authorities for a cease-fire along the 38th Parallel. They hope that by dealing directly with the North Koreans, many ticklish issues such as China's United Nations seat and the withdrawal of the United States Seventh Fleet from the Formosan Strait may be eliminated.
While the world's highest peace organization is still considerating the question of seeking an armistice or cease-fire with the Communists, the UN high command in Tokyo and its field headquarters in Korea have both sounded a stern warning. Said General MacArthur: "To hold a line at the Parallel once the Allied forces have reached, it would require such a sizable force that if we had it and could logistically maintain it, it would be able to drive the Chinese Communists back cross the Yalu and proceed to the accomplishment of our mission of the unification of Korea." Simultaneously with MacArthur's "stalemate," statement, Lieu. General Matthew B. Ridgway declared that he foresaw no "field of indefinite or indeterminate action."
MacArthur's appeal for more forces to avoid an "inevitable stalemate" in Korea and Ridgway's conviction that he knew of no plan for ending the war in Korea were both intended for urging the UN to take a stand on whether the parallel should be crossed in the new offensive.
Officially, Washington thinks there is still a lot of hard fighting ahead in Korea. Despite frontline reports of Communist retreats and the reconquest of Seoul, State Department press officer Michael McDermott tersely said: "There is no indication whatever that the other side has given up its thought of driving us out of Korea." This clearly means that the State Department has had no indication through the UN Good Offices Commission or through other nations that the Reds now are interested in a settlement. The Chinese have declared they are determined to achieve their objective of taking all of Korea unless there is a settlement on their terms. The United States and other UN members participating in the struggle consider the Communist terms as virtually a demand for UN surrender.
In London, although British officials agree with MacArthur's view expressed in a cabled interview with President Hugh Baillie of the United Press that practical considerations forbid trying to hold a defensive line at the 38th Parallel, they still hope for negotiation with the Chinese Reds and are opposed to doing anything that would jeopardize the chances.
Meanwhile, President Truman has declared at a press conference in Key West, Florida, that the authority to cross the 38th Parallel in Korea is a tactical matter for the field commander. The American Chief Executive's views are shared by Selim Sarper of Turkey, chairman of the Assembly Committee considering sanctions against the Chinese Reds, who said in mid-March: "Regarding the crossing of the 38th Parallel, in my opinion and that of my Government, this is merely a military question rather than a political one."
Washington looks at the Korean situation in this way: There is still much fighting ahead--- the Chinese Communists have not absorbed enough punishment to show any interest in a political settlement. The UN high command in Tokyo holds that peace hopes must rest on a Communist defeat of sufficient magnitude to convince the Chinese Reds and Russia that it is time to quit fighting. President Truman spoke of peace and war at the same time. The Chief Executive served notice on Russia that America is rearming primarily to prevent war but also "to meet such a conflict if it is forced upon us." He challenged the Communists to help the world find peace.
Meanwhile, there was no letup in the bloody fighting in Korea. The big news of the month was the Allied re-entry into Seoul. At the month's end, UN forces were meeting stiffer Red opposition on the central front. The Allies were fast approaching the 38th Parallel. General MacArthur visited the battle zones for the thirteenth time and said the drive was "going well". There were indications that the Chinese Communists were getting set, with some 200,000 men, to make a determined stand.
A Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman said that the Chinese Reefs, planning a big summer offensive, had transferred up to 540,000 men to North Korea.
As the world diplomats ponder on these two important issues—a peace treaty with Japan and the crossing of the 38th Parallel—Taiwan watches the development with close interest and grave concern.
Elsewhere in the world, internal troubles flared up in several countries. The most spectacular incidents occurred in Iran where a group of fanatics assassinated Premier Ali Razmara and threatened Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlevi and other officials with "annihilation." Iran's parliament voted to nationalize the country's rich oil resources. Britain told Iran that any dispute over the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company holdings must be decided by the International Court of Justice. Britain contended that nationalization would be illegal.
The Yugoslav Government issued a "White Book" warning Russia and Cominform countries building up military forces on Yugoslavia's borders. The document detailed the "permanent little war" of border incidents and complained of "movements by Soviet military units and rattling arms on our borders."
A plot to set up a military dictatorship in Pakistan by force was reportedly nipped in the bud by the arrest of Major General Akbar Khan, Chief of General Staff, and three accomplices. Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan allegedly said that the plans, "had they succeeded, would have struck at the very foundations of our national existence and disrupted the stability of Pakistan."
In Tibet, where the Chinese Communist forces have been menacing the Government of Dalai Lama for the past four and a half months, an agreement was reported to be under consideration which would assure the religious leader of internal autonomy and grant the Chinese Communists the right "to secure the Tibetan frontier."
Along the perimeter of Russian influence in Europe, the purge of Communist leaders suspected of "Titoism" continued during the month under review.
Meanwhile, Western Germany moved another step forward toward the restoration of her sovereignty as the result of a further relaxation of the occupation statue. The question of German disarmament and its relation to the military forces in Eastern Germany blocked a full agreement among the Big Four deputies on the agenda for the Foreign Ministers' meeting. Political changes in France and Britain in mid-March were expected to strengthen the Western position. The French parliament accepted Radical Party leader Henri Queuille as Premier, thereby avoiding a prolonged deadlock when the East-West negotiations we're under way. In Britain, the appointment of Herbert Morrison to succeed Ernest Bevin as Foreign Secretary was expected to bring new vigor to the administration of British foreign policy.
The British campaign to wipe out terrorists and subversive elements in Malaya was seized upon as a good pretext for feverish propaganda by the Chinese Reds. Peiping violently attacked the British for persecuting the "loyal Chinese citizens" in Malaya. Premier Attlee has been presented with a demand by Peiping that the eighteen-man Chinese Communist delegation be permitted to go to Malaya to probe the situation of the Chinese population."
'The people are the root of a country:
when the root is firm the country is tranquil.'
Shu Ching-'The Book of History'