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 dur-
ing and since the close of the war. The record shows that the United
States has consistently maintained and still maintains those funda-
mental 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 domina-
tion of China.It is deplorable that respect for the truth in the
compilation of this record makes it necessary to publish an account of
facts which reveal the distressing situation in that country. I have
not felt, however, that publication could be withheld for that reason.

The record should be read in the light of conditions prevailing when
the events occurred. It must not be forgotten, for example, that
throughout World War II we were allied with Russia in the struggle
to defeat Germany and Italy, and that a prime object of our policy
was to bring Russia into the struggle against Japan in time to be of
real value in the prosecution of the war. In this period, military
considerations were understandably predominant over all others. Our
most urgent purpose in the Far East was to defeat the common enemy
and save the lives of our own men and those of our comrades-in-arms,
the Chinese included. We should have failed in our manifest duty
had we pursued any other course.

In the years since V-J Day, as in the years before Pearl Harbor,
military considerations have been secondary to an earnest desire on our
part to assist the Chinese people to achieve peace, prosperity and in-
ternal stability. The decisions and actions of our Government to pro-
mote these aims necessarily were taken on the basis of information
available at the time. Throughout this tragic period, it has been fully
realized that the material aid, the military and technical assistance,
and the good will of the United States, however abundant, could not
of themselves put China on her feet. In the last analysis, that can be
done only by China herself.

Two factors have played a major role in shaping the destiny of
modern China.

The population of China during the eighteenth and nineteenth cen-
turies doubled, thereby creating an unbearable pressure upon the land.
The first problem which every Chinese Government has had to face
is that of feeding this population. So far none has succeeded. The
Kuomintang attempted to solve it by putting many land-reform laws
on the statute books. Some of these laws have failed, others have

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