Red China’s Premier and Foreign Minister Chou Enlai, with top military and economic advisers, is going through a round of conferences at the Kremlin. Obviously no one in the West knows what is on the agenda, but Western intelligence men have some educated guesses. The Chinese are almost certainly asking more aid for the Korean war, which is proving a great drain on Red China. Almost 90% of China’s trade is now going to Russia and her satellites to pay for war supplies from Peking’s allies. Among the things Chou is reportedly asking:
¶ A loan. The $300 million, to be spent over five years, which Stalin promised Mao Tse-tung 2½ years ago, is evidently not enough to carry on the war.
¶ More planes, including 1,500 MIG 15s, 1,500 Yak fighters, 600 four-engine Tupolev bombers, 1,000 cargo planes.
¶ Russian submarine and fleet units to strike back at U.S. naval operations in the Sea of Japan and the Yellow Sea.
¶ More industrial equipment, including a 100,000-kw. generator (possibly illustrating the damage done by U.S. air raids of North Korea’s power plants on the Yalu).
Other probable topics:
¶ Russia’s 1950 promise to withdraw her troops from Port Arthur, so far unfulfilled.
¶ The industrial resurgence of Japan, which is worrying Red China.
Despite the list of probable Chinese demands, there is no longer any real hope —even among the British, who have clung to it longest—that a serious rift is developing between Peking and Moscow.
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