ASIA: China’s Seismic Ally

When grasping Japan seized China’s island of Formosa (the Beautiful) in 1895 and renamed it Taiwan (Terraced Bay), the Chinese accepted their loss with Oriental calm. In the years that followed they watched their neighbor struggle with Formosan problems of malaria, head-hunting savages, typhoons and earthquakes.

Last week Japan’s Domei official news agency admitted trouble once again in Taiwan, reported that 190 people had been killed in another earthquake. More important than what happened to 190 Japanese was what happened to south Taiwan air bases, from which bombers take off to Luzon, 235 miles distant. About the air bases Domei said nothing.