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TREHAR
"NATIONAL
-42-
ARCHIVES AND
SERVICE'
consolidation of Asia. I have the strong feeling that we
are spending altogether too much time thinking of a China
policy as a separate matter. I think that is a very un-
fortunate aspect of our thinking in these recent months
and years. I say that only in projection because I do
emphasize that we are not meeting to either approve or con-
done any past act but it is a question of where from here
and it is only in that sense I comment on it.
I think it is of vital importance that our country
adopt an Asiatic policy of which the Chinese situation
is an important part but definitely a subordinate part of
the whole Asiatic approach and that if you take that
approach it isn't quite so significant as to how far the
Communists advance in China or just exactly what happens
in the Nationalist Government or the Communist Government
of China, or rather, how does this all affect this whole
vast area of China, and of course as we all know, more
than half the peoples of Asia are outside of China, in
Malay, in Siam and Burma and most of all in India, the
Indies and the Philippine Islands, and so forth.
I think, looking at it in that respect, that our
country should at the earliest possible date, which pre-
sumably would be after Congress meets in January, initiate
an economic aid to Asia program. I think that the exact
framework and details of course must be developed as time
goes on but I think some comment could be made on it at
this time.
If we continue for a long period an atmosphere that
the US is waiting to see what happens in Asia, that is
part of the creation of a vacuum and certainly all the
lessons show the Communists thrive on vacuums. They push
in on it and we must not to a greater degree than possible
permit vacuums to be present in Asia. Therefore, my
thinking runs along this line, that we establish an Aid
to Asia Program and that we decide, with all the total
demands upon our resources, what we can afford to spend
in Asia and clearly our own defense forces - the carrying
through of the harshall Plan and the Atlentic Pact arms
must be firm commitments and our own internal problems
of security for our own people and conduct of our govern-
ment are demands upon our resources.
There is a limit also to our resources but it seems
to me, when you add all those things up and look at the
world picture, we not only can afford up to one-fortieth
of our national budget in Asia or one billion dollars a
year
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"ocrText": "TREHAR\n\"NATIONAL\n-42-\nARCHIVES AND\nSERVICE'\nconsolidation of Asia. I have the strong feeling that we\nare spending altogether too much time thinking of a China\npolicy as a separate matter. I think that is a very un-\nfortunate aspect of our thinking in these recent months\nand years. I say that only in projection because I do\nemphasize that we are not meeting to either approve or con-\ndone any past act but it is a question of where from here\nand it is only in that sense I comment on it.\nI think it is of vital importance that our country\nadopt an Asiatic policy of which the Chinese situation\nis an important part but definitely a subordinate part of\nthe whole Asiatic approach and that if you take that\napproach it isn't quite so significant as to how far the\nCommunists advance in China or just exactly what happens\nin the Nationalist Government or the Communist Government\nof China, or rather, how does this all affect this whole\nvast area of China, and of course as we all know, more\nthan half the peoples of Asia are outside of China, in\nMalay, in Siam and Burma and most of all in India, the\nIndies and the Philippine Islands, and so forth.\nI think, looking at it in that respect, that our\ncountry should at the earliest possible date, which pre-\nsumably would be after Congress meets in January, initiate\nan economic aid to Asia program. I think that the exact\nframework and details of course must be developed as time\ngoes on but I think some comment could be made on it at\nthis time.\nIf we continue for a long period an atmosphere that\nthe US is waiting to see what happens in Asia, that is\npart of the creation of a vacuum and certainly all the\nlessons show the Communists thrive on vacuums. They push\nin on it and we must not to a greater degree than possible\npermit vacuums to be present in Asia. Therefore, my\nthinking runs along this line, that we establish an Aid\nto Asia Program and that we decide, with all the total\ndemands upon our resources, what we can afford to spend\nin Asia and clearly our own defense forces - the carrying\nthrough of the harshall Plan and the Atlentic Pact arms\nmust be firm commitments and our own internal problems\nof security for our own people and conduct of our govern-\nment are demands upon our resources.\nThere is a limit also to our resources but it seems\nto me, when you add all those things up and look at the\nworld picture, we not only can afford up to one-fortieth\nof our national budget in Asia or one billion dollars a\nyear"
}