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Wedemeyer and his staff have received unprecedented cooperation from the Generalissimo. From the beginning, Chiang appreciated Wedemeyer's cordiality, recognized his brilliance. When the American, in a daring battle maneuver last fall, flew crack Chinese units from Burma* and the Chinese Communist border region (with Chiang's assent) to stop the Japanese advance in Kweichow, Chiang's opinion was confirmed. How well Lieut. General Wedemeyer has succeeded in the diplomatic part of his job was indicated last week when Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek accepted an invitation to be Wedemeyer's guest at supper. Not since he became President of China has Chiang ever accepted such an invitation from a foreigner. But the Generalissimo has a good reason to be grateful. The new army forged by Wedemeyer is clearly superior to anything ever seen in China. Few can appreciate better than Chiang Kai-shek how much this new army will strengthen his Government for the internal and external trials that lie ahead for China.
Political Implications. To her allies (the U.S. and Britain), the Chinese successes meant that the advance units of China's potential military might were slowly, doggedly beginning to move forward along the long road to Tokyo. Politically, the Chinese successes foreshadowed the emergence of China as a Far Eastern power whose political destiny might well prove to be the political destiny of democracy in Asia and in the world.
Nothing in Lieut. General Wedemeyer's orders gives him franchise to interfere in China's internal and external affairs. But the organizer of China's dawning victory could not fail to be in some degree the architect of China's future. And China's internal and external problems could not fail to influence the organization of victory.
These problems were twofold: 1) internal political disunity (the Chinese Communists) and reform (at Chungking); 2) China's relations with Russia. The two problems were organically connected by many visible and invisible layers of ragged political nerves and morbid social tissue.
Reform advanced again last week. In Chungking the dominant Kuomintang (Nationalist Party) held an important Sixth National Congress. It re-elected the Generalissimo as its Tsung-Tsai—Director General. It passed resolutions calling for broad social reforms. It approved the Tsung-Tsai's proposal for a constitutional convention next November and for a limited withdrawal of Kuomintang influence from the Government. It held out China's hand to Russia and urged a continuation of "the policy of seeking a political solution of the Chinese Communist problem."