The Pittsburgh Press (June 28, 1947)
U.S. maps ways to bolster Chiang
‘Neutrality’ in Chinese war abandoned
WASHINGTON (UP) – The United States, its 18-month “neutrality” policy in China’s civil war discarded, today studied new moves to bolster Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek’s tottering government and armies.
Recent Chinese Communist successes in Manchuria placed the whole American policy toward China under review by the White House and the State Department.
The first moves came swiftly yesterday when the Export-Import Bank announced it would consider extending credits to China, and the State Department disclosed the sale of 130 million rounds of rifle ammunition to Chiang’s hard-pressed Nationalist armies.
Despite the twin moves, diplomatic officials emphasized that they did not get down to the core of China’s problems – economic reconstruction and political unification. On those problems future American policy is being formulated “but no one has come up with the right answer yet,” one official said.
Sales of the surplus rifle ammunition, manufactured for but not delivered to China during the war, raised the possibility that more munitions will be funneled into China soon.