Fairbank Backs Policy Of Recognizing Peiping

John K. Fairbank '29, professor of History, last night strongly supported a plea by Edwin O. Reischauer, professor of Far Eastern Languages, for diplomatic recognition of Communist China. "I follow the Reischauer view pretty closely," he said.

Reischauer in his rcent book, Wanted: An Asian Policy, urged recognition as an important step in working out a satisfactory settlement of the Red Chinese problem.

He added, however, that recognition was not possible so long as the United States is actively engaged in conflicts with the Peiping regime, but felt that diplomatic relations should be instituted as soon as conditions permitted.

Recognition would increase the chances of a split between the Chinese and the Russians, Reischauer maintained, by easing the U.S. out of its role as "public enemy number one," and leaving the position open to the Russians. He said that such a split was the only hope for influencing Red China, since military and economic pressures were negligible.

Both Fairbank and Benjamin I. Schwartz '38, assistant professor of History, agreed that military force would accomplish little. The Chinese are undoubtedly demanding more powerful weapons, like submarines, from the Russians, Fairbank explained. "Soon we won't be able to leave our fleet out there for someone to drop something on," he said.

A break in the Peiping-Moscow axis is not, however, an immediate possibility, Schwartz maintained. "There is not that weight of hope," he said. The split, if it comes, will probably be the result of things beyond our control, he continued.

The chief immediate advantage for the United States in regular diplomatic relations with the Chinese would be a listening-post in Peiping, according to Schwartz. We would at least gain the contact we have with other Communist countries, he said.

Schwartz emphasized the importance of removing the United States from repeated conflicts with the Chinese. "We can forestall a settlement for all time by staying," he said.