Lattimore Hits American Apathy On Formosa, Far East Problems

Owen Lattimore, Lecturer on the Far East at Johns Hopkins University, last night attacked the American public's failure to discuss the important issues involved in U.S. policy toward China.

Speaking to a small crowd in New Lecture Hall, Lattimore argued that the issues in the dispute between the Nationalist Chinese and the Communists on the mainland over possession of Formosa are brought up only during times of "crises." Because of this "brink-tottering statesmanship," he said, we are "kept on the run from crisis to crisis. There are no indications," he added, "of a thorough overhaul of long range policy toward the Far East."

The Administration, Lattimore asserted, is not even considering the possibility, for instance, that the people of Taiwan will choose to return to China rather than remain independent. John K. Fairbank '29, professor of History, commenting on the point raised by Lattimore, said the United States "would be smart to come out openly with a decision to accept the expression any time in the future of the people of Taiwan to join the mainland."

Fairbank criticized the Administration for failing to take a stand on the issue of self-determination for the Formosans, and predicted that "the pull of the mainland will eventually be a very powerful one." If China continues to expand industrially and increase its national power, he said, "it will become too hot for us to hang on to Taiwan in the future."

Rupert Emerson '22, professor of Government, and third member of the panel sponsored by the Harvard-Radcliffe United Nations Council, argued that the United States should "bring pressure on Chiang Kai-Shek to get a withdrawal of Nationalist troops from Quemoy and Matsu."