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Issue Date: , 1949

Far East: News in Brief

Story Contents 'Blockade' Ship Bombed Reinforced U.S. Policy Communist Plans U.S. Consulate Accused Communist Broadcasts Paper Quits Dutch Quit Jogjakarta Japanese Prisoners Viet Nam-French Pact

China

'Blockade'

The Nationalist Government in Canton declared all Communist-controlled ports closed to traffic effective . The word "blockade" was not used. The affected area will extend from the Min River, Foochow, in the south north-ward along the entire China coast to the Liao River in Manchuria. Foreign ships were warned to stay away. Warnings were also issued that the Communist-held ports would be bombed. The Nationalist Navy has about 100 ships.

Ship Bombed

On and 22 the 8,287-ton British freighter Anchises was bombed in the Whangpoo River at by Nationalist planes from Formosa. Four persons aboard were wounded in the first attack. After the British Government protested to Canton, the Chinese said the ship had been mistaken for a Communist one.

On the Egyptian ship Star of Suez headed for Japan from Shanghai was intercepted by a Nationalist warship off the mouth of the Yangtze River and its Chinese river pilot taken off. It was then allowed to proceed . [See 1949 Far East: MacArthur Scores Russia; Other Developments]

Hong Kong Reinforced

Britain announced that 2,000 troops were being sent to reinforce Hong Kong. [See 1949 Far East: News in Brief]

U.S. Policy

Twenty-one U.S. Senators--5 D. and 16 R.--sent a letter to President Truman June 24 demanding assurances that the U.S. would not recognize the Communist regime. They urged "an affirmative friendly policy" toward Nationalist China. In the Senate demands were heard that the secret Wedemeyer report on China be published. Senator Arthur H. Vandenberg, R., Michigan, assailed the Administration's "tragic failure" in China and scored W. Walton Butterworth's appointment as Assistant State Secretary for Far Eastern Affairs as a "continuation of a regime" connected with that failure. Senator Tom Connally, D., Texas, retorted that the U.S. had given China $2 billion in aid and demanded: "Would you send your own sons to fight in the Chinese civil war?" [See 1949 Far East: News in Brief]

Dr. Kan Chieh-hou, Acting President General Li Tsung-jen's special representative, called on President Truman June 22 to ask for "all sorts of aid" for the Nationalists. [See 1949 Far East: News in Brief]

Communist Plans

The preparatory committee of the new Communist-sponsored Political Consultative Conference, scheduled for mid-August, adjourned in Peiping after laying the groundwork for the establishment of a "People's Democratic Republic of China." Communist leader Mao Tse-tung declared that the war had been "won," that the Nationalists had lost 5,500,000 troops in 3 years and had only 1,500,000 left. He said the new state would be willing to establish diplomatic relations with any "truly friendly" foreign powers but "imperialists" would be barred. [See 1949 China: Shanghai-Hangchow Drive; Other Developments]

U.S. Consulate Accused

Communist charges that the U.S. consulate in Mukden--isolated for 6 months--had engaged in espionage in North China were denied by the U.S. Embassy in Nanking June 19. Mukden Consul General Angus Ward telegraphed June 23 that he had finally succeeded in meeting a Communist representative and arranging for the staff's departure. [See 1949 China: New Nationalist Premier; Other Developments]

Communist Broadcasts

The Chinese Red Army June 20 began a twice-daily broadcast to Japan using a woman announcer.

Paper Quits

The English-language Shanghai Evening Post and Mercury abandoned efforts June 23 to continue publication.

Dutch Quit Jogjakarta

Dutch troops began evacuating Jogjakarta, Java, June 24. The exiled Indonesian Republican Government is expected to return by July 1. Two Republican officers were killed as the withdrawal began--one by the Dutch and one by an Indonesian. [See 1949 United Nations: Assembly Actions; Other Developments; 1949 Far

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East: News in Brief]

The Indonesian Government announced June 25 that 4 Indonesian Communists had been executed by the Republicans: Tan Malaka, once hailed as the "father of the republic," executed in East Java April 16; Amir Sjarifuddin, Republican Premier in 1947-48, who joined the Communists last year; R. M. Suripino, a former Republican envoy in Central Europe, and the Communist Party secretary Hadjono. All participated in the Communist revolt against the republic in Madiun last September. The last 3 were executed after the Dutch began military action last December. [See 1948 Indonesia: Java Drive Finished; Other Developments; 1948 Far East: News in Brief; 1948 United Nations: Atomic; Other Developments]

Japanese Prisoners

The Soviet mission in Tokio promised June 20 that repatriation of prisoners would begin this month and that "all 94,000 remaining" Japanese held by the Russians would be sent home this summer. (The U.S. and the Japanese charge that they held more than 400,000.) [See 1949 Far East: MacArthur Scores Russia; Other Developments]

Dispatches June 22 reported that Japan is curbing its inflation. The note issue is down more than 50 billion yen to 293 billion yen since December 31. Prices have dropped 10%, dragging black market prices down with them. [See 1949 Far East: News in Brief]

Viet Nam-French Pact

Bao Dai's agreement with French President Vincent Auriol giving the new Indo-Chinese state of Viet Nam partial independence was published June 19. Viet Nam will be allowed to send diplomats to the Vatican, Siam and China or (depending on conditions in China). It will also be permitted to have its own army, judiciary and educational system, but French nationals will enjoy extra-territorial rights and French will remain the diplomatic language. French Defense Minister Paul Ramadier declared June 19: "We will hold on..." Communist Ho Chi Minh has "sentenced" Emperor Bao Dai to death. [See 1949 Far East: MacArthur Scores Russia; Other Developments]

France's 3-mile Indian enclave of Chandernagore voted overwhelmingly in a referendum June 19 for union with India. The territory, in northeast India, has 50,000 inhabitants. Referenda will be held in 4 other tiny French territories--Pondichery, Yanaon, Karikal and Mahe--in December. [See 1949 World News: News in Brief] © 2011 Facts On File News Services

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