Last July William C. Bullitt was dispatched by LIFE to China to see if he could find a sensible answer to the Chinese puzzle. This week in LIFE, the former U.S. Ambassador to Russia publishes his proposed solutions. Even as his report goes to press, the disastrous war news from Manchuria tragically confirms Mr. Bullitt's analysis of that situation and his plea for U.S. aid to the Nationalist forces there. Because of the importance of the subject, the concreteness and urgency of Mr. Bullitt's conclusions, TIME herewith reprints excerpts from his report:
To prevent the domination of China by any nation which might eventually mobilize the 450 million Chinese for war against us is a vital interest of the United States. . . . Can China be kept out of the hands of Stalin? Certainly—and at a cost to ourselves which will be small compared to the magnitude of our vital interest in the independence of China. By what means?
The Communist Objective
Today the Chinese Government holds firmly all China as far north as the Yangtze River. Small bands of bandits, some of whom call themselves Communists, hold remote areas south of the Yangtze; but the Shanghai fashion of calling the area south of the Yangtze "the zone of peace and reconstruction" is justified. The area from the Yangtze north to the borders of the Soviet Union is definitely a war zone.
The Communists use guerrilla tactics, moving swiftly and attacking at night, hiding in villages and resting in the day time. . . . They are attempting to bring down the Government not by destroying its armed forces but by wrecking the economic life of the country. Hence, they do not hesitate to burn towns and villages, destroy railroads . . . and blow up industrial installations, such as power plants, which they cannot carry away.
The Manchurian Crisis
In Manchuria the situation is altogether different. Government troops hold most of South Manchuria, except Dairen and Port Arthur which are occupied by the troops of the Soviet Union. But Communist troops hold all the rest of Manchuria, except a long finger-shaped salient from Mukden to Kirin. This salient follows what was once the major railroad of Manchuria, passing through Szepingkai and Changchun. It is a railroad no longer. Communists have destroyed every bridge north of a point 30 miles to the south of Szepingkai. Most of the ties have been burned, and many of the rails twisted by placing them across the blazing ties. . . .