NEW ASIATIC POLICY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP74-00297R000301040066-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 27, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 7, 2013
• Sequence Number: 66
• Publication Date: February 11, 1953
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT 1117 A Cankrrtortrwr TW rrn I I wire
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/08/07: CIA-RDP74-00297R000301040066-5
N,w. Asiatic Policy.
.Tivo Possible. Conflicts
A NEW activist policy in
Asia. if it is to be pressed with
the decision on Formosa mere-
ly a beginning, seems likely to
generate two
,
major con-
flicts. The
first will take
place largely
behind the
scenes. T h e
second could
develop into
a fierce na-
tional contro-
versy on the
order of the,
Childs great debate
? over lend-
lease and the destroyers for
Britain. that. preceded Pearl
Harbor.
The first dispute will concern
?priorities for the supply of
tanks, guns and planes from
,.A 1n.e rica ri production lines.
-Great al; that output is, the de-
mand is even greater and the
total is being divided among
Korea, the arms build-up here
.at home, Western Europe, Indo-
China and other claimant.
?Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalists
on Formosa have been getting
a small share.
Already the pressures are
growing to ? give the Generalis-
simo.a bigger portion. The pres-
silre will be strong on Cat:iitol
.Hill, where many Republicans
now in key positions have.long
wanted higher priority for Asia
even at the expense of Europe.
They are now in a position to
demand a change in the order
that has prevailed.
The pressure also will come
from military men urging a
'more active Asian policy. Chief
'among these is Admiral Arthur
.W. Radford, commander of the
Pacific Fleet who accompanied
then President-elect Eisenhow-
er on his Korean tour. Radford
is reported to have told the
House Armed Services Commit-
tee that Chiang should soon be
getting jet planes in much larg-
F numbers. Nationalist: pilots
already trained could use these
jets to attack rail and other
?
?
*
? ? By Marquis Childs
Foreseen
. .
? communications systems orythe
' mainland.
? BUT THESE same jet planes
are needed for the build-up in
Europe where air power?and
especially tactical air strength
?has been one of the serious
deficiencies. Secretary of State
'John Foster Dulles *ill find.
that he has a job cut out for
himself in preserving whatever
program may finally be decided.
on to continue the arming of
the European defense commu-
nity. What with the urge for
economy on one hand and the
pres,ure for the Nationalicts
on the other, the case for the
claimants in Europe will have
to he ironclad.
, The second conflict will de-
velop if the demand for a block-
adeof the Chinese mainland
hecdmos irresistible. The ques-
tion almost. certain to arise is
whether this can be done with-
out a declaration or war by
Conq.re against Red China.
Again., both in the military or-
ganizption and in C.orn.tress are '
thove who hold the deen con-
viction flint such A st-n cannot
bg, taken without the sa.nction
of Congress in accord with the
Constitution.
In nail. such a debate would.
be along party ines. Leading
Democrats in the Senate have
.alreadst demanded to know
where the new nolicy was going
to lead. But there are strict
'constitutionalists among the
Republicans who have de-
nounced former President Tru-
man ? for failing to get the con-
sent of Congress for narticipa-
tion? in th'e war in Korea. In
the view of isolationists in. the
nre-Pearl Harbor era, Franklin
Roosevelt led the. country into
war by a series of indirect steps
that violated his constitutional
oath.
Interestingly enough, it is-
these same former isolationists
'who are in many instances to-
day ardent advocates of action
, in Asia. It is as though they
said. now, this is our inning and
we mean to take it.
SENATOR Robert A. Taft of
Ohio, now majority leader in
the Senate, was one of the most
active and articulate in oppos-
ing any kind of American inter-
vention in Europe in 1939 and
'40, Now in his powerful posi-
tion as, in effect, Mr. Congress
he has gone so far as to say
that if it seems advisable to
assist Chiang's forces to land
on the mainland "we would
help and send out troops to do
it." Taft's outspoken demands
for action in Asia in 1953 sound
strangely like some of the
declartions of Americans in
1940 on the Committee to De-
fend America by Aiding the
Allies. ?The latter was the
activist group convinced that
only American might could
prevent a Nazi conquest of the
world.
Admiral Radford outlined to
the House committee several
different kinds of blockades
which he ..said the Navy was
prepared to carry out. He sug-
gested that a limited blockade
could be put into effect with
the consent of the other United
Nations countries participating
in the Korean War. This, as
the committee understood it.
would not constitute an act of
war, and Radford was confident
such a blockade would not in-
crease `the, danger of 'World
War
Whether Britain, France ,and
the other leading U. N. powers
Would approve even a limited
blockade is highly doubtful.
From British sources :the indi-
cation has come that no block-
ade must be undertaken with-
out greatly strengthening the
garrison at Hongkong, the Brit-
ish colony on the mainland of
China. Two additional divisions
would be necessary to check-
mate a reprisal attack by the
Communists. No one has sug-
gested where these divisions
can be found. In fact, most of
the realities of money and men
are still to be confronted. .
(Copyright. 1953. by United Fea_turss
Syndicate. Inc.)
See Marquis Childs on "Washington
Bpoilighis Friday at 7:15 D. M. on
WNBW. Channel 4.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/08/07 : CIA-RDP74-00297R000301040066-5