Nepal's First

Ten months ago, cannon boomed hollowly in Kathmandu, capital of the small (54,000 sq. mi.), ancient kingdom of Nepal on India's northeastern frontier, to signal the opening of diplomatic and trade relations between that country and the U.S. (TIME, May 12). It was a great event. For centuries, the Nepalese had dealt diplomatically only with Britain, occasionally with the Chinese.

Last week, for the first time in history, a Nepalese ventured officially into the Western Hemisphere. He was Commanding General Kaiser Sham Shere Jung Bahadur Rana, who came to Washington to present his credentials as Nepal's first Minister Plenipotentiary to the U.S.

His name was infinitely more imposing than his appearance. Fifty-six-year-old General Kaiser is a bare 5 ft. 2 in. tall. Nevertheless, he is a big man -- a leader of fierce Nepalese troops in both World Wars, a noted archeologist honored by the French for digging around in Gautama Buddha's birthplace near Nepal's border. Between wars he was Nepal's Foreign Minister, mayor of Kathmandu and director general of archeology.

With the general came his beauteous wife, black-haired, alabaster-skinned Rani Kaiser, 33 years his junior, and their 3 1/2-year-old daughter Tani (Nepalese for "tugger").

While presenting his credentials to President Truman at the White House, General Kaiser repeated the 17th Century aphorism* about an ambassador being an honest man sent abroad to lie for his country, added that he preferred to believe that an envoy was dispatched to speak the truth. Replied the President: "A great pleasure. . . ."

There was no mention of the military aid which Lieut. General Albert Wedemeyer had strongly urged five months ago (TIME, Oct. 20). The program was admittedly aimed only at "a limited objective," could do no more than provide "a respite from rapid economic deterioration." Said Harry Truman: "Nothing which this country provides by way of assistance can, even in a small measure, be a substitute for the necessary action that can be taken only by the Chinese government."

No Lack of Advice. But if Harry Truman seemed resigned to failure, Secretary of State George Marshall was crisply defiant. Appearing two days later before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, he explained exactly what that "necessary action" should be. Said Marshall in plain, undiplomatic language: "It is fundamental . . .to develop a basis of government [in China] not restricted to a small group and to clean up waste and corruption. But even more important, it must give definite, active consideration to the land problems of the peasantry. . . . This is critical from a purely military point of view. You can't win guerrilla warfare with the people against you."

His soldier's temper aroused, Marshall went on to discuss the plight of China's armies. Recalling his mission to China, Marshall said: "I told them that no operation could be successful until they first had trained troops and sent these troops to battle under competent leadership. There hasn't been any lack of advice. It's been continuous and emphatic and ignored!" He listed the military help the U.S. had already provided since the arms embargo was lifted last May: 130 million rounds of small arms ammunition, 150 C46 transports and 80 light combat planes, 61,000 tons of surplus ammunition, $6,000,000 worth of air-force supplies (at 12 1/2-c- on the dollar).

No Lack of Danger. Marshall made it clear that the President's plan was as far as the Administration would now go. He did not minimize the danger of a Communist victory. Under sharp questioning by Minnesota's Walter H. Judd, he agreed that if the Chiang government fell, the Communists would immediately seize all of China north of the Yangtze, would hold the key to all the rest. He agreed that such a turn would make the U.S. position in Korea untenable, would force "a very serious situation" on General Douglas MacArthur* in Japan.

But, like Harry Truman, George Marshall doggedly insisted that Europe must have a priority on U.S. aid, that real recovery could be accomplished only by China itself.

For embattled China, these were hardly encouraging deeds or words. But in Nanking, hard-pressed Nationalists were ready to settle for what they could get. Small as the sum was, it would be enough to cover China's current dollar deficit. By providing new funds for relief imports, it would free an equal amount of China's own assets for the purchase of essential military supplies.

*Attributed to James I's Ambassador to Venice Author-Diplomat Sir Henry Wotton. *From Tokyo, MacArthur put a prompt stop to a hopeful suggestion by the committee that he return to testify on the bill. Said MacArthur: "The heavy pressure of my duties renders it impracticable for me to leave my post here at the present time."

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