A Forward Path?

The strong leadership of President Eisenhower and the near-unanimity of the Congress in backing him in the Formosa resolution undoubtedly retrieved much of the U.S. prestige and influence that had been recently lost in Asia. In the preceding fortnight the Communist capture of Yi-kiang Island near the Tachens had reminded Asians that the Reds were still on the march, the U.S. still on the defensive. Then came the suggestions of Secretary Dulles and President Eisenhower that the U.N. might arrange a cease-fire in the troubled area. This statement of policy was partly designed to be read in Europe as evidence of the President's patience and peacefulness. But it was read in Asia as confirmation of the suspicion that the U.S. had abandoned all hope of helping Chiang Kai-shek liberate the mainland; it even seemed to remove from the backs of the Reds the pressure that Formosa as a threat exerts on their military freedom, on their economy and on their political self-confidence.

A few days before the President's message to Congress last week, the whole anti-Communist position in the Far East seemed to be coming apart. Ike stopped the rot, and the U.S. emerged in a better light than it had enjoyed for several weeks.

But in a longer perspective, the fortnight's moves are part of a train of events going back before 1950. Today the U.S. is still unable to move decisively forward, still reacts only to Communist initiative, is still unable to make its own choices.

The U.S.--however the cease-fire declarations were intended--has moved nearer to the British position that Chiang Kai-shek should be firmly tied down to Formosa and the Reds recognized as the government of China. The failure to fight Korea through to victory, the defeat in Indo-China, the squabble between the Western allies over China policy, are all part of the same retrograde movement.

The President last week got from Congress a stirring reminder of the support he can evoke by strong leadership. There is no reason to think that only desperate expedients and emergency measures will draw such support. Feb. 23, when Secretary Dulles goes to Bangkok for a meeting of the Manila pact nations, might be an appropriate date to start a forward policy in Asia.

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