Chiang and the Communists

Japan is not fighting a united nation in China, but a restless coalition of Nationalists and Communists. Without the help of the Communist armies Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek cannot hope to defeat Japan. But Chiang must not pay so dearly for their help that, in the event of a victory over Japan, the Communists would control the Chinese Government. So Chiang has had to follow a flexuous policy of giving the Communists enough arms, money and freedom of action to keep them fighting against Japan, but not enough to let them maneuver themselves into a commanding position in South China. Against such an attempted maneuver, Chiang last week appeared to have outmaneuvered the Communists.

Organized to fight Japan in the Middle Yangtze Valley, Moscow-trained General Yeh Ting's Fourth Route Army had become a formidable force. Meanwhile China's practically autonomous Communist Government had brought pressure on Chiang to allow its crack Eighth Route Army to move from the barren northwestern provinces into the rich Valley of the Yangtze. Fearing that the Fourth Route Army plus the Eighth might be two Trojan Horses in his camp, Chiang ordered General Yeh to march his Army northward out of the Valley. Instead, the Army marched southward. South of the river, it met Chiang's Central Army and somebody opened fire.

For nine days Chinese fought Chinese. Then General Yeh was wounded, taken prisoner. The Generalissimo held him for court-martial. The Fourth Route Army he disbanded. Chou Enlai, Communist emissary to Chiang, suavely announced that there would be no more "friction."

This was a victory for the Whampoa (West Point) clique of Chinese generals who hate & fear the Communists and are jealous of the publicity given to the Fourth and Eighth Route Armies. But it was no victory for China. What has kept the Communists fighting for Chiang is the fact that they fear Japan more than they fear Chiang Kaishek. If Japan (or Russia) could convince the Communists that they have less to fear from Japan (or Russia) than from Chiang Kaishek, China's jig would be up.

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