Victor's Progress

In less than seven years, Chou En-lai had come from a rebel cave in Yenan to triumphant victory over the West on the West's own diplomatic grounds. For however much the U.S. tried to ignore him, however hard Britain tried to soften the ugliness of his victory, Chou last week was on the way to scoring Communism's greatest victory since China fell.

He was demanding, and there was a good chance he would soon get, control of the 22 million citizens of Viet Nam.

Over orange juice with the Premier of France, this suave, well-mannered ex-terrorist calmly disposed of nations and peoples (see below). He promised grandly that the French could keep a "cultural interest: in Indo-China. France would keep little else. Chou put it diplomatically: China wanted to be the protector of all three independent Indo-Chinese states. In a matter of months, thousands of gallant Vietnamese who had pledged their lives to the free world's promises would be handed over by default to their ruthless enemies.

Leaving the details to subordinates, Chou set off on a triumphal tour of Asia with the air of a lord inspecting his domain. India bowed at the sight of the conquering hero who had humbled the West's best diplomats, hailed the generosity of his concessions on Laos and Cambodia.

Indians showered his path with rose petals.

While Chou banqueted with Nehru, the West lay in untidy disunity. In Washington, the leaders of Britain and the U.S.

met, and did not trouble to conceal their suspicions and their differences. While they debated whether or not to begin now or later a study to decide whether to consider drawing up a pact to protect Southeast Asia, Chou was already engaged in urging some of the prospective members (India, Burma, Indonesia) to sign non-aggression pacts with China.

Geneva had established beyond recall Chou and Chou's China as a world force.

The loss of Indo-China would not be fatal to the anti-Communist cause in Asia.

What might be fatal was a continuance of the process by which it was lost--through weakness, irresolution, disunity.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.