"FRIENDSHIP" OR AGGRESSION?

August 30, 1949

Seeking to justify aggression, Dean Acheson harps on "friendship" and throws in lots of "principles".

Acheson says:

The interest of the people and the Government of the United States in China goes far back into our history. Despite the distance and broad differences in background which separate China and the United States, our friendship for that country has always been intensified by the religious, philanthropic and cultural ties which have united the two peoples, and has been attested by many acts of good will over a period of many years, including the use of the Boxer indemnity for the education of Chinese students, the abolition of extraterritoriality during the Second World War, and our extensive aid to China during and since the close of the War. The record shows that the United States has consistently maintained and still maintains those fundamental principles of our foreign policy toward China which include the doctrine of the Open Door, respect for the administrative and territorial integrity of China, and opposition to any foreign domination of China.

Acheson is telling a bare-faced lie when he describes aggression as "friendship".

The history of the aggression against China by U.S. imperialism, from 1840 when it helped the British in the Opium War to the time it was thrown out of China by the Chinese people, should be written into a concise textbook for the education of Chinese youth. The United States was one of the first countries to force China to cede extraterritoriality [1] -- witness the Treaty of Wanghia [2] of 1844, the first treaty ever signed between China and the United States, a treaty to which the White Paper refers. In this very treaty, the United States compelled China to accept American missionary activity, in addition to imposing such terms as the opening of five ports for trade. For a very long period, U.S. imperialism laid greater stress than other imperialist countries on activities in the sphere of spiritual aggression, extending from religious to "philanthropic" and cultural undertakings. According to certain statistics, the investments of U.S. missionary and "philanthropic" organizations in China totalled 41,900,000 U.S. dollars, and 14.7 per cent of the assets of the missionary organizations were in medical service, 38.2 per cent in education and 47.1 per cent in religious activities.[3] Many well-known educational institutions in China, such as Yenching University, Peking Union Medical College, the Huei Wen Academies, St. John's University, the University of Nanking, Soochow University, Hangchow Christian College, Hsiangya Medical School, West China Union University and Lingnan University, were established by Americans.[4] It was in this field that Leighton Stuart made a name for himself; that was how he became U.S. ambassador to China. Acheson and his like know what they are talking about, and there is a background for his statement that "our friendship for that country has always been intensified by the religious, philanthropic and cultural ties which have united the two peoples". It was all for the sake of "intensifying friendship", we are told, that the United States worked so hard and deliberately at running these undertakings for 105 years after the signing of the Treaty of 1844.

Participation in the Eight-Power Allied Expedition to defeat China in 1900, the extortion of the "Boxer indemnity" and the later use of this fund "for the education of Chinese students" for purposes of spiritual aggression -- this too counts as an expression of "friendship".

Despite the "abolition" of extraterritoriality, the culprit in the raping of Shen Chung was declared not guilty and released by the U.S. Navy Department on his return to the United States[5] -- this counts as another expression of "friendship".

"Aid to China during and since the close of the War", totalling over 4,500 million U.S. dollars according to the White Paper, but over 5,914 million U.S. dollars according to our computation, was given to help Chiang Kai-shek slaughter several million Chinese -- this counts as yet another expression of "friendship".

All the "friendship" shown to China by U.S. imperialism over the past 109 years (since 1840 when the United States collaborated with Britain in the Opium War), and especially the great act of "friendship" in helping Chiang Kai-shek slaughter several million Chinese in the last few years -- all this had one purpose, namely, it "consistently maintained and still maintains those fundamental principles of our foreign policy toward China which include the doctrine of the Open Door, respect for the administrative and territorial integrity of China, and opposition to any foreign domination of China".

Several million Chinese were killed for no other purpose than first, to maintain the Open Door, second, to respect the administrative and territorial integrity of China and, third, to oppose any foreign domination of China.

Today, the only doors still open to Acheson and his like are in small strips of land, such as Canton and Taiwan, and only in these places is the first of these sacred principles "still maintained". In other places, in Shanghai for instance, the door was open after liberation, but now some one is using U.S. warships and their big guns to enforce the far from sacred principle of the Blockaded Door.

Today, it is only in small strips of land, such as Canton and Taiwan, that thanks to Acheson's second sacred principle administrative and territorial "integrity" is "still maintained". All other places are out of luck, and administration and territory have fallen to pieces.

Today, it is only in places such as Canton and Taiwan that thanks to Acheson's third sacred principle all "foreign domination", including U.S. domination, has been successfully done away with through the "opposition" of Acheson and his like; therefore such places are still dominated by the Chinese. The rest of the land of China -- the mere mention makes one weep -- is all gone, all dominated by foreigners, and the Chinese there have one and all been turned into slaves. Up to this point in his writing, His Excellency Dean Acheson did not have time to indicate what country these foreigners came from, but it becomes clear as one reads on, so there is no need to ask.

Whether non-interference in China's domestic affairs also counts as a principle, Acheson didn't say; probably it does not. Such is the logic of the U.S. mandarins. Anyone who reads Acheson's Letter of Transmittal to the end will attest to its superior logic.

NOTES

1. "Extraterritoriality" here refers to consular jurisdiction. It was one of the special privileges for aggression which the imperialists wrested from China. Under the so-called consular jurisdiction, nationals of imperialist countries residing in China were not subject to the jurisdiction of Chinese law; when they committed crimes or became defendants in civil lawsuits, they could be tried only in their respective countries' consular courts in China, and the Chinese government could not intervene.

2. The "Treaty of Wanghia" was the first unequal treaty signed as a result of U.S. aggression against China. The United States, taking advantage of China's defeat in the Opium War, compelled the Ching Dynasty to sign this treaty, also called the "Sino-American Treaty on the Opening of Five Ports for Trade", in Wanghia Village near Macao in July 1844. Its thirty-four articles stipulated that whatever rights and privileges, including consular jurisdiction, were gained by Britain through the Treaty of Nanking and its annexes would also accrue to the United States.

3. See C. F. Remer, Foreign Investments in China, Chapter 15.

4. Yenching University was in Peiping; the Huei Wen Academies, in Peiping and Nanking; St. John's University, in Shanghai; Hsiangya Medical School (Yale in China), in Changsha; West China Union University, in Chengtu; and Lingnan University, in Canton.

5. William Pierson, a corporal, and other U.S. marines raped Shen Chung, a girl student of Peking University, in Peiping on December 24, 1946. This aroused the great indignation of the people throughout the country against the atrocities of the U.S. forces. In January 1947, brushing aside the people's protests, the Kuomintang government handed over the chief criminal, Pierson, to the Americans to be dealt with at their discretion. In August the U.S. Navy Department set this criminal free with a verdict of "not guilty".

Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung