Strange War

Chinese Nationalists and Communists, their armies deployed for battle, were still killing each other last week; but negotiations between their leaders continued in a much improved atmosphere. Opposing propaganda chiefs met in Nanking in an effort to place bounds (sternly requested by U.S. Mediator George Marshall) on the things they could say about each other.

In this strangely limited (but nonetheless dangerous) civil war, negotiations and fighting blended. Was the fall of Changchun, for instance, a battle or a deal? Chiang Kai-shek had demanded that this city, the Japanese-built capital of Manchuria, be handed over to his troops as part of a new truce agreement to replace the pact that the Communists broke. No one ever announced that the Reds had agreed. But suddenly last week Chiang's General Tu Liming led his troops 67 miles in four days up Manchuria's spine. As he stormed Changchun, the Reds withdrew limply to the north.

The Generalissimo and Madame Chiang flew to Mukden in Marshall's plane. No news about their mission leaked out. The embattled press suddenly adopted a more temperate tone. Experts on Chinese politics sniffed peace in the air. If it came it would be as limited, mixed and tentative as the civil war.

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