893.9111/48
The Ambassador in China (Gauss) to the Secretary of State
[Received January 13, 1943.]
Sir: I have the honor to enclose for the Department’s information a translation of an editorial from the Ta Kung Pao (independent Chinese daily) of December 15, 1942, entitled “Problems in the Pacific and Canada”.18
The Ta Kung Pao takes the opportunity offered by the meeting of the Institute of Pacific Relations in Canada to present what in its [Page 747] opinion are the three important post-war problems in the Pacific area: (1) how to make Chinese prosperous, (2) how to subdue Japan and (3) how to adjust relations in Southeast Asia. The editorial states that the present hostilities had their origin in the oppression of a weak China by a strong Japan and that permanent peace in the Pacific can be assured only by the emergence of a strong and prosperous China; that severe punishment must be meted out to Japan and her leaders responsible for the war must be brought to trial; that a new Japanese Government must represent the will of the people, the policy of that government to be subject to examination by China; and that the problem of the peoples of Southeast Asia should be easy to solve in accordance with the principles of the Atlantic Charter. China’s position with relation to the freedom and equality of those subject peoples is reaffirmed by reference to Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek’s recent statement that China had responsibilities, not rights, with respect to those people. The editorial concludes with an appeal to Canada to take steps to improve the treatment of overseas Chinese in Canada who are subject to painful restrictions of Canadian immigration laws and discrimination.
This editorial reflects the oft-repeated opinion of the Chinese press, which is shared by many in Chinese official circles, that Japan must be thoroughly defeated and her armament industry completely destroyed and that China must emerge as the strong power in the Far East. This opinion is based on the feeling that a strong China can maintain surveillance over Japan and can serve as a restraining influence to prevent further Japanese aggression, thereby offering assurances of permanent peace in the Far East. Accompanying these claims for the necessity of a strong China is the denial that China aspires to the dominant position sought by Japan. As evidence of lack of Chinese aspiration to a position of dominance, the press constantly refers to the Generalissimo’s statement, first made at the closing session of the Third People’s Political Council and repeated on later occasions, that although China is the oldest and largest nation in Asia “it is not for us to talk boastfully of her right to a position of ‘leadership’ and China shall rather regard it as her responsibility to treat peoples of Asia as equals”, toward whom China has responsibilities but not rights.
One cannot, however, entirely overlook the occasional references which have appeared in the Chinese press to the treatment of overseas Chinese in Thailand, to the large numbers of Chinese in Malaya, to the question of Burmese independence, to the post-war position of Indochina under a possible Chinese protectorate and to the important position of overseas Chinese in the South Pacific, as evidenced by the resolutions in that regard passed by the Third People’s Political Council [Page 748] and the Tenth Plenary Session of the Central Executive Committee of the Kuomintang. One sees increased Chinese attention to neighboring countries and to her border regions in the organization under Chinese auspices of Sino-Burmese and Sino-Korean Cultural Associations, in the attempts at reassertion of Chinese authority in Sinkiang and in the greater emphasis being placed on the border regions of the Northwest and the West, with particular attention to the spread of education among the border tribes. It seems likely, however, that Chinese internal post-war problems will be of such a magnitude as to preclude any possibility in the near future of Chinese assumption of a dominant position in the Far East or of the rise of a Chinese imperialism to succeed that of the Western nations and that of Japan.
Respectfully yours,
- Not printed.↩