Red Mystery

Douglas MacArthur's headquarters estimated last week that there were 60,000 Chinese Communist troops in North Korea, and no less than 500,000 more behind the Manchurian border. Chinese troops and material poured into North Korea, despite the heaviest Allied air attacks since September (see below). One more U.S. division--the 3rd Infantry--was added to the six already in Korea. The 3rd, which sailed some time ago from the U.S., had been held in Japan.

Wails of Dismay. The mystery of what the Chinese interventionists were up to in Korea remained unclarified last week, and they refused to explain themselves at Lake Success (see below). But the theory that they intended to drive the Allies back below the 38th parallel, or even off the peninsula altogether, was somewhat less tenable than before. After the massive surprise attack of last fortnight, instead of pressing their advantage they stopped in their tracks and even pulled back, in some sectors, beyond reach of Allied patrols. They counterattacked cautiously when the regrouped U.N. forces advanced cautiously; but the whole aspect of their operations last week was defensive, not offensive.

Even if their only objectives were to defend a buffer zone south of the Yalu, and pin down the U.S. divisions.to a harsh winter war of attrition, the highly audible wails of dismay from the U.S.--from the public, which had expected the Korean war to be ended by now, and from statesmen who wanted to dispatch U.S. divisions to Europe--must have been music to Red ears.

It was possible that the main Chinese objective was not in Korea at all, but on the political front at Lake Success. Instead of a bludgeon to knock the U.N. troops off the peninsula, the Chinese force in Korea might be a blackmail attempt to win U.N. recognition for Communist China.

Dangling Bargain. Since the Korean war started, the U.S. State Department had been playing what it conceived to be a delicate game. By not quite closing the door to recognition of Communist China, by not quite guaranteeing Formosa, the State Department had deliberately encouraged Red China's hopes that, if it stayed out of the Korean war, the U.S. would go along with recognition and withdraw protection from Formosa. By sending his troops across the Yalu, China's Mao Tse-tung could be simply pressing for a bargain that had been dangled in front of him.

In any case, the initiative had passed back to the Communists. If Douglas MacArthur struck really hard at the Chinese Reds, he would be accused of provoking a war with China; and if he did not strike at them, the Reds could simply sit astride the Yalu, tying up the bulk of the U.S. armed forces.

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