CHINA: Powder Keg

Last week the long-smoldering quarrel between Kuomintang and Communist Governments blew up in a shower of sparks. From the Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party Chou En-lai came an ugly cry: "There is danger of civil war." In Chungking, Information Minister Liang Han-chao snapped back: "There is no danger of civil war."

After five years of armed truce, blockade and counter-blockade, the Kuomintang and Communist Governments last May began haggling over unity terms. Chungking offered to recognize the Communists as a legal party but demanded that they acknowledge Kuomintang suzerainty. Yenan (Communist capital) countered with sweeping proposals for national economic and political...

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