CHINA: First (and Last?) Election

Last week China had two firsts: her people went to the polls in a national election, and her currency dived to a new low —it now took more than $100,000 (Chinese) to equal $1 (U.S.) The two events, one symbolic of hope and the other of despair, were intimately connected in Chinese minds, in world politics and in the U.S. conscience.

Missing Words. The U.S. was involved because, sensibly or not, it had insisted upon Chinese reforms before further aid. U.S. Lieut. General Albert C. Wedemeyer had made that condition painfully clear to all Chinese last summer, though at first most...

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