Enter the Chinese

After six weeks of secret discussions, the first phase of the Dumbarton Oaks conference ended; the Russians went home, the Chinese moved in. The Chinese had everyone's sympathy. They, like everyone else, knew that they were there largely to put their own thoughts on record, and then to give approval to what had already been agreed to by the U.S., Great Britain and Russia. At the public opening session China's spokesman, Dr. Wellington Koo, got applause even from the supposedly callous correspondents.

The first phase had ended with the Big Three in approximately 90% agreement, mostly on organizational details of a new world security league. This was progress of a kind. But two big stumbling blocks remained:

P: The powers of the U.S. delegate--which cannot be settled by any international conference but by the U.S. Senate.

P: The voting powers of the Big Four, in the event that one of them is accused of aggression. Said the skeptics: Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? (Who will keep an eye on the caretaker?) The question caused a deep division, unresolved by days of discussion. It could be settled, if at all, only by a new meeting of the heads of the Big Four.

Dumbarton Oaks had turned out to be exactly as advertised: a technical meeting by non-policymaking officials (TIME, Aug. 28).

These difficulties, and the sudden realization that the war in Europe might run until next spring, caused a drop in public interest. It now appeared probable that a full-dress international conference of all nations, big & small, to form a new league would not be held until next year.

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