Word: manchuria
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...Americans, the big news from China last week was that U.S. troops were on the verge of a shooting war (see below). For Chinese the big news was Manchuria...
Some observers in Chungking jumped to the conclusion that Manchuria might be "irretrievably lost" to the Central Government. The facts were grave, but not quite so catastrophic...
Promise v. Fulfillment. The Russians had promised to begin evacuating Manchuria three weeks after the end of the Japanese war. Apparently they were keeping the letter, if not the spirit, of their pledge. The Red Army had withdrawn from much of southern Manchuria; by early December the evacuation should be complete. But as the Russians withdrew, an estimated 60,000 Chinese Communists, equipped with Japanese arms, poured in with amazing rapidity; and more were on the way. Chungking's World Daily News asked the $64 question: "Who has made this possible?" The Russians had declined to open Port Arthur...
...Manchuria's ultimate fate was still far from settled. Chinese look upon Manchuria, with its Japanese-developed heavy industry and its strategic position, as the key to a strong China. The Central Government was still negotiating with the Communists for an overall settlement ; if that failed, Chungking would fight a major civil war to re-establish Chinese sovereignty over Manchuria. In the long run, the Central Government armies, especially the crack U.S.-trained divisions, looked like more than a match for the Red guerrillas...
Chinese Communists were still entrenched last week along the Great Wall, barring the advance of Central Government troops into Manchuria. U.S. marines stood within earshot of the crump of mortars and the boom of artillery. U.S. warships, under Vice Admiral Daniel E. Barbey, refused to risk a landing of Government troops in Manchuria's Communist-held ports; the Admiral warned both Communists, and Nationalists that Manchuria might be lost in the squabble and emerge as an "independent state" like Outer Mongolia...