The Evening Star (February 24, 1946)
Russian intentions in Asia cause growing concern
Future activities of Japanese Kwangtung Army leaders, now being indoctrinated, especially worrisome
By Constantine Brown
Friends of Gen. MacArthur report he is deeply concerned over the future of the Asiatic mainland and our strategic position in the Pacific, particularly since the Soviet government recently has begun to show a definite “appetite” for Manchuria and Northern China.
Russia’s position in Japan, for the time being, is not clear. The Moscow government has not yet made any attempt to show its hand after the Moscow agreements signed last December by Secretary of State Byrnes whereby the Far Eastern Consultative Commission was completely revamped to suit our Russian friends and a control commission was established and given a voice in the handling of Japan by the American supreme commander.
But the fact that the status quo is being maintained at this time is interpreted to mean that the Russians have not yet had time to start a pressure policy in the Japanese islands. They are busy with preparations for an “energetic policy” in the Mediterranean, they are preparing to meet any “possible emergency” in Turkey and also are busy consolidating their position in Manchuria, a Chinese province which is important both from the economic and the strategic points of view.
Stay on in Manchuria
It is believed that before the end of the summer we will be confronted with demands from Moscow which may mean the placing of Japan – with its 70,000,000 inhabitants – under Russia’s influence. The Russians should have been completely withdrawn from Manchuria by the end of February. There are no indications, however, that this will be the case. On the contrary, everything points to a long stay by the Russian armies in the area which is supposed to be returned to China in accordance with the Cairo declaration of November 1943 and the Sino-Soviet treaty of last
August. Some of the Siberian divisions are being withdrawn but are being replaced immediately by troops from Eastern Europe and Germany. These, in turn, are being replaced by the new reserves from the homeland, soldiers who have not been “contaminated” by their contact with the mode of living in Europe.
The Russian government’s policy regarding Manchuria is still obscure to the man in the street but is clear to those who know heretofore unpublicized facts and incidents.
Manchuria was endowed with a large industry by the Japanese, who contemplated making the Chinese mainland their last bastion of resistance against the Allies. In accordance with the Yalta and Potsdam agreements, all the Allies were to share in the reparations from Japan. This matter was not a question to be settled between the Chinese and the Russians but concerned all the Allied powers which fought the Japanese.
After his return from Moscow, Edwin Pauley was instructed by President Truman to go to the Far East and look into the reparations question, bearing in mind that this was a United Nations matter. Mr. Pauley visited Japan, where he found only a small number of industrial plants had escaped serious damage from Allied bombing.
Visa held up by Reds
So he turned his eyes toward Manchuria, which had been about 95 percent undamaged, and asked the Russians for a visa to visit that Chinese province. The Russians were in complete occupation of Manchuria at the time. The usual dilatory methods were employed by Moscow until Mr. Pauley realized that he might have to spend a long time in Tokyo before receiving permission to travel in Manchuria. So he didn’t complete his mission.
American observers, with rare exceptions, were in the same position as Mr. Pauley. The Russians not only did not want any intruders to see how much of the Japanese industry had been carted away, but they had other things to conceal.
For instance, the Russians had every reason to keep quiet the fact that the puppet emperor, Henry Pu-Yi, had been spirited away from Manchuria and had been given comfortable shelter in Moscow. It was equally against their interests for the world to find out that some of the top generals of Japan’s Kwantung Army had not been taken into the salt mines or to prison camps, but had been accorded all the privileges of their rank and were being kept in various towns in Siberia and Russia, where they were undergoing “indoctrination.” A large number of the rank and file of the Kwantung army was sent to labor camps and mines in Siberia, but a nucleus was being kept either in Manchuria itself or close to its borders in Siberia. All these things could have easily been corroborated had Americans, who by nature are inquisitive, been allowed to roam around Manchuria and interview eyewitnesses.
None available for trial
The Chinese in particular are wrought up over the treatment afforded the Kwantung Army. This army played a dominant political role in Japan’s politics and was almost exclusively responsible for the Sino-Japanese War which started in September 1931 with the “Manchurian incident” and culminated in World War II.
The Chinese government regards the Kwantung Army generals, who engineered political coups d’etat in Japan and forced Hirohito to accept the domination of the military clique in Tokyo, in much the same light as we regard Goering and the other indicted Nazis at Nuernberg. Yet not a single important member of the Kwantung general staff has been made available for trial. It also was the officers of the Kwantung Army who were responsible for the sack of Nanking in 1937 and all the rape, arson and murder which followed.
The Chinese government, however, is in a precarious position in regard to Russia and cannot openly press its claim that these men be handed over. Not only would its request remain unanswered but further difficulties might make the present Sino-Russian situation more complicated.
High officials in Chungking are pointing out to Gen. Marshall the fallacy of believing that negotiations with the Communists have any value until they receive the green light from Moscow. And that light changes to red at the slightest provocation. For instance, the so-called armistice between the central government and the Yenan forces appears at this time to be a mere fiction. Chungking believes that unless it accepts the “economic treaty” with Russia regarding Manchuria more and graver disputes with the Yenan Communists are going to occur in spite of the so-called agreement 'for the consolidation of China.
The fact that only last week the Chinese Communists demanded a “share” in the administration of Manchuria is indicative that Russia is making all the necessary preparations to establish a firm anchor on the Chinese mainland, from which she will be in a better strategic position to strengthen her situation in the Pacific.
A look at the map will show that Russia is already in full possession of the islands extending from Kamchatka to Hokkaido, the northernmost Japanese island which the Russians demand as their exclusive zone for their occupation troops.
MacArthur in command
This question was raised at the Potsdam Conference and was turned down unhesitatingly by President Truman on the suggestion of his naval and military advisers. It is said the matter was brought up last September at the Foreign Ministers’ Conference in London. But here, again, Secretary Byrnes was not willing even to discuss it. He had been told by the Joint Chiefs of Staff that our diplomatic position was strong since at Potsdam it had been decided that the forces occupying Japan would be placed under the command of Gen. MacArthur, who would designate a special area for each army at his discretion.
The Russians did not insist and have not resumed the negotiations regarding Hokkaido. But they have made it clear that Red Army forces do not wish to mix with other armies of occupation, desire an exclusive zone of their own, and that the island of Hokkaido, which is so close to their other bases, is the only place where Russian troops would agree to land.
Gen. MacArthur has warned in unmistakable terms that if the American government yielded on this matter, the security of the Pacific and, by implication, the security of the United States would be jeopardized.
It is obvious to those in close touch with the Manchurian and Kwantung army situation that the Russians want the leaders of the most politically-minded Japanese army to establish a Communist regime in Japan. This is an easy job, not only because Japanese officers are venal but also because they are firm believers in totalitarianism, regardless of whether it is under the white flag with a red ball in the center or the hammer and the sickle.
Used Japs in Mongolia
The Soviet experiment with a restricted number of Japanese forces in Inner Mongolia is said to, have been satisfactory. The Japanese are proving reliable mercenaries. Moreover, the Russians have successfully handled large groups of German war prisoners who surrendered at Stalingrad and their commanders who belonged to the once stern and obstinate Junker families.
But so long as the Soviets do not have a base close to Japan such as Hokkaido, the infiltration of the Communists and the overthrow of whatever government might be established in Japan by properly conducted elections will be difficult. It is true that Gen. MacArthur has permitted a number of Japanese Communists who have been schooled in Moscow or Yenan to enter Japan and that they are organizing the Communist party, which has been practically nonexistent in Japan in the past. These infiltrations are inconsequential and can not produce a coup d’etat. But if the Soviets establish a firm propaganda base in one of the main Japanese islands it will not be difficult to penetrate in the rest of the country. The trained seals who formed the staff of the Kwantung Army and the specially-selected groups of soldiers who are now undergoing indoctrination courses would return to the homeland and would be useful tools in any action to make Japan another “unfriendly state” on the pattern of Poland, Yugoslavia, Romania and Bulgaria.
According to his friends. Gen. MacArthur feels that Russia can no longer be dislodged from Europe. From the military point of view, she already controls all the most strategic points and bases. For the time being Russia has not been able to accomplish the same in the Far East. She is on the way to establishing her first solid anchorage by “interpreting” in her own way the Sino-Russian treaty regarding Manchuria and the chances are that she will be successful. The Chinese government, without the formal backing of the United States, cannot hold its own against Russia’s tremendous pressure. And if. is doubtful that Washington will change its present appeasement policies so far as the Chinese mainland is concerned.
Of this Gen. MacArthur is fully aware, but there is nothing he can do about it. Nevertheless, he is making every effort to convince Washington that the “umbrella” policy must not be adopted in regard to the Japanese islands.
If Japan were to be permitted to become a Soviet puppet the security of the United States would be more seriously threatened than at any time in the last 20 years.