Internal Affair?

INDOCHINA

The success or failure of Indo-China's independence movement now rested largely on China. The main forces of the rebellious Viet Nam ("Distant South," the ancient name for Annam province) had been pushed back to their stronghold in the colony's north. There, Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek's troops, sent to disarm the Japanese, were in occupation.

Last week a Chungking spokesman declared: the Viet Nam movement was an internal Indo-Chinese affair; while China would not recognize the native "provisional government," neither would it interfere with it. The spokesman also hinted that China wanted a voice in the operation of the French-owned railway that runs from the Indo-Chinese port of Haiphong to Kunming in China's southern hinterland.

In southern Indo-China, dominated by the great harbor and naval base of Saigon, French troops mopped up Viet Nam guerrillas. Like the Chinese troops, the British were technically present to disarm the Japanese, were helping the French. In a skirmish at Bienhoa, a rail town some 20 miles northeast of Saigon, two British Indian soldiers were killed.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.