War: Primer on Imperialism

In the midst of an otherwise humdrum U.N. week (see above), China’s Dr. Tsiang Ting-fu, a distinguished history professor and “scholar in government” (Ph.D. from Columbia), delivered an arresting speech —in effect a lecture in history that none of Tsiang’s colleagues would soon forget. The historian’s target was a propaganda cliche interminably used by the Russians (and by a lot of Americans who should know better): “U.S. imperialism.”

Said Tsiang: “We in China divide . . . imperialists into two categories: the ocean devils and the land devils. Among the powers which came over the seas, in the first place, were Spain and Portugal; then came The Netherlands, Great Britain and France; still later came Germany and Italy. The one country which came to exploit and conquer Asia over land was Russia . . . The United States of America did not participate . . . The policy of the United States in the Far East was based on sound United Nations principles 50 years before these principles were embodied in the Charter of the United Nations . . .”

A So-Called Friend. “At the end of the [Japanese] war, the United States did not ask of China any port, railway or mine concession whatsoever. The American troops simply said goodbye to us and returned to their homes in New York, Texas or wherever they might be. If that should be imperialism, I wish the Soviet Union would follow the example . . .

“The imperialism of Russia in Asia has very often assumed the form of friendship for an Asian people. Russia, as a so-called friend, obtained much more than some of the other Western powers which appeared as open enemies . . . [In the middle of the 19th Century] England and France. . . asked and obtained the opening of some additional places to foreign trade, more privileges for the Christian missionaries . . . During the same period, Russia obtained from China the northern bank of the Amur River and the eastern bank of the Ussuri River … an area larger than that of France and Germany combined. This area is now held by the Soviet Union. [It] includes the port of Vladivostok . . .

“The same maneuver was repeated toward the end of the 19th Century. Exploiting China’s hatred of Japan, Russia obtained from China Port Arthur and Dairen and Manchurian railways. Russia, the friend of China, obtained more from China than Japan, the enemy, did . . .”

Surpassing All the Ivans. “Now all the European imperial powers which went to Asia over the seas have liquidated their empires, or are about to liquidate them … At this propitious moment in the history of Asia, one power and one power alone continues the imperialistic exploitation of Asia, and that power is the Soviet Union . . .

“No movement of imperial expansion can be compared to what Soviet Russia has achieved in Asia in recent years. Stalin has surpassed all the Ivans, Peters, Alexanders and Nicholases of Russian history.”