Once Russia Has the Ability

The Russians will launch a Pacific war in 1956, said Nationalist China's Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek this week, in an interview with the United Press. All that they are waiting for, he added, is the completion of a giant network of railroads, transecting China vertically and horizontally and linking the Asian land mass with Russia.

Two days before Chiang made his statement, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Walter Robertson returned to Washington from a flying visit with him. Reports had circulated that Robertson's mission was made to halt Nationalist air attacks on the Red China coast. These reports, said Robertson, were wrong.

The Reds had invited air attack last month by shelling Quemoy, the offshore Nationalist stronghold; this month the shelling died down, and Chiang held back his air punch pending the next round. In any case, the U.S. has no intention of chaining down his forces. Robertson, asked if he had discussed the "reneutralization of Formosa" or the "socalled Yalu River sanctuary," brushed them off as "a couple of catchy phrases that don't mean much." Choosing his words with care, he declared: "I will say that I know of no place in the world today where Communism can attack with impunity."

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