Invitation to Traitors

Chungkingers last week wondered whether they would soon lose their favorite spittoon, the iron statue of Nanking Puppet Wang Ching-wei and his wife. The question of revenge against turncoats had been reopened by the conservative Catholic newspaper Yishipao, with this editorial olive branch: "If the traitors are willing to turn over a new leaf, we will forgive the past and allow them to return."

Pudgy, affable Dr. K. C. Wu, Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs, announced that China's quislings are not necessarily criminals, warned that "the Government is not taking decision on the basis of public opinion." Minister of Publicity Liang Hanchao defined two methods of dealing with puppets: 1) those willingly serving the enemy "will be brought to book"; 2) those serving to keep their rice bowls filled "may be pardoned and even given liberal treatment." Liang said that Wang Ching-wei, No. 1 puppet in Asia, is definitely one of those to be punished when captured. Others were doubtful, recalled that Wang had tao-ko ("reversed spear") five times, betraying causes he once espoused, and had always been forgiven.

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