INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS: A SURVEY

BY Prof. M. VENKATARANGAIYA, M.A.

The one and the only event of importance in the quarter is the Korean War. It has passed through two stages. In the first stage the North-Korean forces won a series of brilliant victories and at one time it appeared as if they would drive out the Americans completely from South Korea and unify the whole country under their control. But then came the second stage. The superior numbers of the Americans and the superiority of their weapons made their influence felt. The North Koreans were completely defeated and they were forced to abandon all the territory they won in South Korea and retreat beyond the 38th Parallel. The war has now entered the third stage. From the South Korean point of view–and from the point of view of the United States and the United Nations–it has so far been a defensive war against the aggression of North Korea. Now with crossing of the South Korean and the United States’ forces into North Korea it has become an aggressive war–the aggressor now being the United States. It is this situation that has created a dilemma, and it is very difficult to prophesy what the future course of events will be. It all depends now on the United States whether the Korean war will gradually develop into the third world war.

It has become clear in recent weeks that there is a party in the United States which is determined to make use of this campaign to destroy the forces of Communism in East Asia and to deal a blow to Soviet Russia and her prestige. General MacArthur belongs to this ‘y. It does not took as if President Truman will be able to restrain him. Even Britain and the other countries that have sent their forces to South Korea have not come to any clear cut conclusion on this matter. But the fact that the forces of South Korea and the United States are already on the other side of the 38th Parallel indicates that the Americans are thinking of the occupation of the whole of Korea as a prelude to its unification under one Central Government.

China, however, has made it clear that she would not keep quiet and inactive if the United States were to persist in the occupation of North Korea. She is prepared to take up the cause of North Koreans and fight the Americans. On the occasion of the celebration of the first anniversary of the establishment of the Communist State in China her Premier and Foreign Minister, Chow-En-Lai, is reported to have said:

“The United States is the most dangerous enemy of China. China would defeat the United States if America resorted to intervention and aggression against China. It is a fact that the China people sincerely love peace, but they will not be afraid to fight aggression in defence of peace. They will not tolerate foreign aggression and will not stand aside, should the imperialist wantonly invade the territory of their neighbour. Those who attempt to prevent the admission of the almost 500 million strong Chinese people to the United Nations Organisation, who attempt to ignore and undermine the interests of the Chinese people constituting a quarter of all mankind, who attempt to decide arbitrarily any question in the East immediately affecting China, will break their necks.”

This is a new voice emanating from the East. It is the voice of Asia’s awakened millions. It is a voice whose force cannot be resisted and which is bound to be heard. To be deaf to it is to court ruin and destruction. The question is whether America and her allies will

pay heed to it, before it is too late.

In trying to answer this question, one has to ask oneself why the United States has entered South Korea. It is not so much because she is interested in Korea as such, or in the welfare of the Koreans as because this step has become necessary in her campaign against Communism and Soviet imperialism. For three years and more she has been waging a war against these forces, but it was all along a war. She has now come to the conclusion that, unless the cold war is transformed into a hot one and the onrushing communistic forces in Korea are completely crushed, she would find herself ultimately defeated in her campaign. The United States is fighting not against North Korea but against Soviet Russia. And until she is satisfied that Russia has given up her aggressive policy there is no chance whatever of her withdrawing from Korea. The threat of China, by itself, may not be effective in deflecting the United States from the new course in her foreign policy.

There is one other feature in the situation which should not be lost sight of. If a war is bound to come between the United States and Soviet Russia, the sooner it comes the better it ill be so far as the United States is concerned. She is now well-prepared for it. She has her stockpile of atom bombs. She has also large accumulations of other destructive weapons. Russia is not yet so well-prepared. It may take two or three years for her to complete her task of preparation. It is, therefore, argued by the makers of foreign policy in the United States that no such time for preparation should be given to Russia and that she should be attacked now and that one way of attacking her is to bring under American tutelage as many countries of the world as are likely to fall into Ruussia’s sphere of influence.

This is a new kind of game at which both Soviet Russia and the United States are playing, although it was Soviet Russia that started it and although she has displayed more skill in playing it. It is the game of making other people fight their cause. By organising communistic parties in almost every country in the world and by guiding their activities, Soviet Russia has succeeded in dividing all countries into two camps–a communistic and a non-communistic one–and she is trying to spread her influence and power by bringing about civil war between the two sections. This was her policy in Greece, in Persia and many other countries. And the United States also has been driven to play a similar game. There is thus no open or direct war between Soviet Russia and the United States. All the same the war that is now going on–the war in Korea–is indirectly a war between these two great powers. Other peoples are made to suffer in order that these great powers might become still greater. This is the new game in world politics.

If we look at the world as a whole, we may say that in relation peace and war it is possible to divide it into three sections. It is only one of these sections that is sincere in its desire for peace. It is the section constituted by countries in East and South Asia–countries like India, Burma, China, Ceylon, Indonesia etc. These are all countries which have recently been liberated from the yoke of Europe and unless they enjoy peace for a generation or two it will not be possible for them to give to their peoples the minimum standard of life consistent with modern ideas. They are at least two centuries behind the European peoples in economic matters, and it is only if they are in a position to concentrate all their attention on economic reconstruction that it will be possible for them to eradicate the poverty of their masses and give them the minimum of civilised exisistence. So when Pandit Nehru or Dr. Soekerno or Mao speaks of peace they do it in all sincerity and, they would do all that is humanly possible to further the cause of peace. But the same is not true of either the Americans or Soviet Russia. What they are anxious about is to secure more and more power. In the case of America it is a new imperialism–only a generation old–and in the case of Russia it is merely a continuation of the imperialist policy of the Czars. The only difference, as pointed out above, between the two countries is that America wants war immediately while Soviet Russia is anxious to have peace for at least two or three years and then measure her strength with the United States. It is only when the divisions in the world today are looked at from an angle like this that we will be in a position to say what prospects there are of peace and of war–whether the new phase in the Korean war will develop into a third world war.

For some years people have been talking of creating one world in place of the existing two worlds. But it has not been found possible to create such a world. On the other hand the gulf separating the two worlds has grown wider and it has become impossible to bridge it. What seems to be necessary at the present day and in the years to come is to neutralise the effect of the existence of these two worlds, and, in the light of contemporary events, this can be best achieved by creating a third world out of a combination first of India and China, and subsequently of the other nations in East and South Asia. The sooner this is brought about the better it will be. It is only in this way that the third world war can be averted and real peace established on earth.

This is the only logical development of Pandit Nehru’s foreign policy. All along he has been emphasising the desirability of India not aligning herself with any of the power blocs–either with the Anglo-American bloc or the Soviet bloc. He has so far succeeded to a very great extent in keeping aloof from either of them, but this is only a negative policy. What is needed is a more positive one. There is no intrinsic significance in an independent line of foreign policy if it does not achieve world peace. And India by herself is not strong enough to neutralise the rivalries of the two power blocs. She has not the necessary material and moral resources for the purpose. And this has been made clear by events in recent times: Every one has been praising Pandit Nehru for his peace efforts. He has admirers in Britain as well as the United States, but no one has so far paid serious heed to his words. The situation will be completely transformed if India and China were to become allied as parties to a treaty of friendship for safeguarding the peace of the world. Such a treaty will gather around it the other countries of East and South Asia which are sincere lovers of peace. No power on earth will be able to ignore such an alliance between two of the most populous countries in the world with potential riches of unknown magnitude. It is only the formation of a third world like this that will establish peace of a longstanding character. And if even then a war breaks out between the United States and Soviet Russia it will not become a world war.

One will naturally raise the question whether there is any prospect of such a treaty of friendship between India and China and the emergence therefore of a third world–a world of peace loving nations. The fact that both India and China are really in need of peace and are conscious of this need is one factor favourable for the conclusion such a treaty. Both these countries have been friend1y neighbours in the past and both have been linked together by many cultural affinities. And all these factors point to the possibility of such an alliance being concluded. In addition, both are determined to see the ending of colonialism in Asia. Thus common needs and interests bind them, and if there are no other serious obstacles the statesmen at the helm of affairs in the two countries should lose no time whatever in negotiating a treaty of friendship.

But are there any serious obstacles? There seems to be one such obstacle at present, and it is the fact that the Government of China is a Communist Government and allied by a treaty with Soviet Russia, while the Government of Pandit Nehru is a democratic one. Naturally many will have a misgiving on this score and will rule out all possibility of real friendship between the two countries. There is, however, no need to draw such a conclusion. In pursuing a common objective, Communists and non-Communists may come together. To put down Hitler and Mussolini, Soviet Russia and the Western democracies came together in the second world war. The same thing may happen in the case of India and China.

There is, however, one condition which has to be fulfilled before such a treaty becomes an accomplished fact. Like any other democratic country, India is opposed to what may be called the aggressive type of international Communism–the type represented by Soviet Russia. So long as Communist Governments are determined on spreading their doctrines by all sorts of insidious methods, including civil wars, it will be very difficult for a Communist and a non-Communist country to come together. It is on this point that India should get assurance from China. If China agrees not to interfere in the internal politics of other countries in East and South Asia, and not to give any kind of encouragement whether direct or indirect to Communism abroad, there can be no serious obstacle in the way of India and China coming together and becoming the nucleus of a third world–a world of peace.

Will China agree to give such an assurance? Will she be permitted to do so by Soviet Russia with which she has already entered into a treaty? These are the really important questions. What is now needed is for Pandit Nehru to carry on negotiations with China on these lines and persuade her statesmen to give the assurance. It may take some time before the rulers of China feel themselves to be in a position to do so. But a short delay will not matter much. International events are making it clearer from day to day that it is only when a third world consisting principally of China and India emerges that the hostility and bitterness now existing between the Soviet bloc and the Anglo-American bloc will be neutralised and the way prepared for real peace. It is for its achievement that the Governments of China and India and of other countries in East and South Asia should work. It is thus clear that what is now needed is the emergence of a third world.

(October 2, 1950)

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