The Asian Peoples' Anti-Communist League convened its 12th conference in Seoul, Korea, from November 3 to 8, 1966. A resolution was adopted by tile participants to address an open letter to the American people. The text follows:
November 15, 1966
Dear American Friends:
For the last several months, some self-styled "China experts" in your country have opposed aid to South Vietnam, have demanded the withdrawal of American troops from that country, and now have gone so far as to urge a policy of "containment without isolation" toward the Chinese Communist regime. They seek to appease the Chinese Reds through enlarged contacts and even admitting the Peiping regime into the United Nations. In so doing, they hope to transform the militant, bellicose Chinese Communists and persuade them to coexist peacefully and amiably with the United States and other free world countries.
We are well aware of the heavy responsibilities your country is shouldering and the price you have paid to check Communist aggression and safeguard freedom. We appreciate your anxieties and those of your government about the international situation and your earnestness in seeking world peace. However, we wish to point out that although peace is the common goal of all free men, a peace obtained by surrender, appeasement or even compromise is dishonorable and will only lead to an earlier war. Without freedom, peace is impossible. Many far-sighted people in your country long have recognized the truth of these words. But others are now advocating a softer U.S. policy toward Red China. If this tendency continues, the policies of your government will be affected, the confidence of the Asian peoples in the United States will be undermined, and the Communists' Asian appetite will grow larger. The result will be the exposure of your continent to direct Communist threat, and the jeopardizing of world peace, with all the ensuing implications for America. In view of the traditional friendship between America and the Asians, and of our common destiny, we the members and participants of the Asian Peoples' Anti-Communist League feel honor-bound to offer our sincere counsel to you our American friends.
It seems to us that intellectuals of your country, who advance the policy of containment of Peiping without isolation, believe that the Red regime is firmly established and in effective control of the Chinese mainland. They also believe that the Peiping leadership will become less aggressive in the future, and that second-generation Chinese Communists will undergo a peaceful transformation. They see Chinese Communism as merely transformed Chinese cultural tradition which does not seek to communize the world.
But these suppositions are based on either incomplete knowledge or on preconceived ideas. The Chinese Communists have certainly had the Chinese mainland under their despotic rule for more than 17 years. Yet only a few Asian countries have recognized the Peiping regime, and anti-Communist uprisings on the Chinese mainland are mounting in fury. Anti-Mao, anti-Communist sentiment has so increased among the masses as well as among intellectuals, Communist Party cadres and even members of the Red armed forces, that the government has been compelled to undertake a bloody purge in the name of the "great cultural revolution". The mainland has been thrown into chaos by the outrageous acts of the "Red Guards", who have been officially described as destroying the old and establishing the new. What they are actually doing is to terrorize and impoverish the population. They ransack private homes, leaving desolation behind them. They are reducing the people to rags once again, wiping out any possible improvement in their standard of living. At the same time, they are building up a smear and slander campaign against non-conforming party leaders and members who are more flexible in their thinking and believe in good sense in policy making. These fanatical, militant "Red Guards" are the "second generation" that the Chinese Communists are cultivating. But the "Red Guard", far from being less aggressive, has clamored to march on to the world stage and bury all the people in the free world. How can such "successors" be expected to make a transition to peace?
China's cultural heritage emphasizes ethics, morals, benevolence, love for mankind, and peace. These values are the opposite of those of Communism, which sneers at ethics and morals, propagates hatred, and is militantly bellicose. China's culture stresses humanitarianism and is an important part of the Oriental humanitarian system. The materialism of the Chinese Communists has contrary values. Humanitarianism regards man as of supreme importance; materialism views man as a vehicle for exploitation and enslavement. The Chinese Communists are carrying out the great cultural revolution in order to negate China's history and destroy China's cultural heritage. Mao Tse-tung and Lin Piao have vowed to uproot China's old culture and thought. Communism is no product of China's cultural heritage.
We know from bitter experience that Communism is at the root of all calamities in East Asia and is the public enemy No. 1 of freedom-loving peoples. Only when it is overthrown can the freedom and peace of Asia and all the free world be preserved. So at a time when the Chinese Reds are encouraging the Viet Cong to enlarge the VN war rather than accept peace talks, and are planning for encroachment upon and invasion of other Asian countries, we must place our earnest hopes on your country as leader of the free world. We trust that you and your government will reject the illusion of appeasing the Communists through containment without isolation and will act in accordance with the U.S. tradition of upholding freedom and justice. In Vietnam, we hope you will adopt a policy of winning total victory, for only so can you restore peace and security to Asia. We sincerely trust that you will take a resolute stand against the admission of the Chinese Communist regime by the United Nations, for Peiping plots to sabotage the world body from within. We are unanimously of the view that this is the time to support wholeheartedly the efforts of the Republics of China, Korea and Vietnam to destroy the Asian Curtain and overthrow the Communist regimes installed in parts of these countries.
We are wholly convinced that the aggressiveness of the Chinese Communists betrays their internal weaknesses. The Reds are not invincible. But the hesitation and vacillation of the democracies could make them so. The United States is the leader of the free world. Your policy toward the Peiping regime will have a direct bearing on the future of Asia and the rest of the world. We sincerely hope therefore that your government and people, upholding the glorious tradition of freedom and justice, will adopt a wise and correct Asian policy under the strong and able leadership of President Lyndon B. Johnson. We appeal to you to abandon all illusions of appeasement, see the Communists for what they are and act accordingly against them without compromise.
Signatories
Mr. Chung Yul Kim, Chairman of the 12th APACL Conference
Member Units:
Australia-Hon. Marie Breen O.B.E., Senator
Ceylon—Mr. Valentine S. Perera, President of APACL Ceylon Chapter
China—Dr. Ku Cheng-kang, President of the China Chapter, APACL; Member of National Assembly and Vice Chairman of Commission for the Study on Constitutional Affairs
Hong Kong—Mr. Chang Kuo-sin, Director of the Asia Publishing Company
India—Mr. Rama Swarup, Responsible person of APACL India Chapter
Iran—Dr. Parviz Kazemi, Senator
Japan—Prof. Juitsu Kitaoka, Secretary General of APACL Japan Chapter
Jordan—Mr. Hani Tabbara, Responsible person of APACL Jordan Chapter
Kenya—Hon. John Okwanyo, Member of Parliament
Korea—Dr. Choi Doo Sun, former Premier of the Republic of Korea
Laos—Hon. Chao Sopsaisana, Congressman of Laos
Liberia-Hon. Nathan Ross, Mayor of Monrovia
Libya—Mr. Zahri Muntassern, Entrepreneur
Macao—Hon. Leonel Borralho, Senator
Malaysia—Hon. Dato Hussein, Member of Parliament
New Zealand—Mr. E.O.E. Hill, Chairman of Wellington Branch, Labor Party
Pakistan—Dr. Mahmud Brelvi, Professor
Philippines—Hon. Cornelio T. Villareal, Speaker of House of Representatives
Ryukus—Mr. Tsai Chang, External Minister, Nationalist Party
Thailand—Dr. Vibul Thamavit, Professor; Chairman of APACL Thailand Chapter
Turkey—Hon. Fethi Tevetoglu, Senator
Vietnam—Dr. Nguyen Tien Hy, Secretary General of National Party; former Minister of Education
Observer Units:
The American Afro-Asian Educational Exchange—Prof. David N. Rowe, Member of Board of Directors and concurrently Chairman of Publication Committee of AAAEE
All-American Conference to Combat Communism—Mr. Donald L. Miller, Executive Director of AACCC
Anti-Bolshevik Bloc of Nations—Mr.Yaroslav Stetsko, Chairman of ABN
Assembly of Captive European Nations—Mr. Vaclovas Sidzikauskas, Chairman of ACEN
Belgium—Knight Chevalier Marcel De Roover, Chairman of Belgium Committee of C.I.A.S.
Chile—Hon. Sergio Fernandez Larrain, former Senator and Ambassador to Spain
International Conference on Political Warfare of the Soviets—Madame Suzanne Labin, Writer, Publicist and Sponsor of the CIGP
Congo (Leopoldville)—Mr. Philibert Luyeye, President of Anti-Communist League of Congo
Denmark—Hon. Ole Bjorn Kraft, former Minister or Foreign Affairs
Free Pacific Association—Father Raymond de Jaegher, Representative of FPA
Inter-American Confederation for the Defense of the Continent—Admiral Carlos Penna Botto, Chairman of IACDC
West Germany—Prof. Theodor Oberlander, former Refugee Minister of W. Germany
Italy—Hon. Ivan Matteo Lombardo, former Trade Minister of Italy
Lebanon—Mr. George Elias Bitar, Beirut Bureau Manager of UPI
National Captive Nations Committee—Dr. Lev E. Dobrianky, Chairman of NCNC
Union of Russian Solidarists—Mr. Vladmir Poremsky, Chairman of NTS
Saudi Arabia—Mr. Shakeeb Amawi, Writer
Spain—Hon. Alberto Martin Artajo, former Spanish Foreign Minister
Sweden—Mr. Arvo Horm, Secretary General of the Baltic Committee