U.S. At War: Shangri-La Mission

Across the central Asiatic wastes in China’s far Northwest hinterland is fabulous, remote Sinkiang province (Chinese Turkestan), once a wild and bloody tribal battleground, now a virtual Russian buffer state. To Chiang Kai-shek this had long been an undeveloped treasure house, a possible last refuge for Free China; to Russia it was a cushion against Japanese-infiltrated Mongolia, against British influence from India. Last week the U.S. planned a consulate there—deeper inside Asia and Asiatic politics than this Government had ever penetrated before.