The Pittsburgh Press (February 18, 1946)
Editorial: Manchuria – danger spot
Hottest spot in the Far East is Manchuria. The United States is involved, as well as Russia and China. Will Russia withdraw and respect Chinese sovereignty, as pledged by Stalin in the Yalta secret agreement and in the later Russian-Chinese treaty?
Already Stalin has broken his word. His troops were to be out by December 3. Twice the withdrawal was postponed, with the excuse that Chiang Kai-Shek’s army was not ready to take over. But that alibi no longer holds, because Chiang’s troops have been cooling their heels outside Harbin and Mukden for weeks.
Meanwhile, the Russians also have prevented the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration mission from entering, despite the critical relief situation. One reason Manchuria is in such grave need of relief is that the Russian army not only has lived off the country, but also allegedly has shipped off food and livestock to Siberia.
Now Russians are reported looting Manchuria of its industrial equipment, moving factory and mining machinery to Siberia. Washington is so alarmed that it has asked China for the facts. At the same time Chiang has admitted that the Russians are trying to get special industrial privileges in Manchuria.
In the Yalta secret treaty Messrs. Roosevelt and Churchill bribed Stalin to enter the Jap war by promising him the Kuriles and South Sakhalin, plus special rights at Dairen and Port Arthur and joint control of Manchurian railroads. But in this secret treaty, and in the later open Chinese treaty which confirmed it, Stalin agreed to withdraw his troops from Manchuria and respect Chinese sovereignty there.
If Stalin welshes on his small part of the monstrous Yalta secret bargain, as he broke his pledge on eastern Europe in the other Yalta agreement, there will be trouble.