(Used as Transcr1 . ·ption 1 fro _ anil , on J ne 12, . 945 --- - -- GOOD IIORBI G, EVERYBODY:- lo one nows yet where the final battles in the war with Jap n w·11 be fought. But there are ■ any who think that after the cities of Japan haYe all ••• reduced, it atlll will be necessary to defeat the Mikado'• araiea on the ■ a nland of Asia. If it works out that way t then Cbiaa will be the final great theatre ot th Pacific war. Also, t will ean that the head of the Chinese goyeruent will be an increashgl7 iaport.aat figure in he war. '!be number one objeotiYe of eTery col'respondeat when he first rriYes in China is to aeet Chiang Ial- Shek. Aad no • onder. For as any years as any of us can . re ember, China and Chiang lai Sbek hav · e been s7nea7mous. le is more than a Chief of State. be is a legendary figu e I spent more than an hour ith the Generalissi o, and will tell you what he said to me, as accurately as I can. We were alone. That is, as alone as one can ever expect to b with the top aan of any ■ajor countr1 whose language you are unable to speak. The G neralissim told e that he neither speaks nor understands Inglish; and, my Chinese ia not so •od! General Al Wedemeyer, Commander-in-Chief of all our forc•a in China, introduced us. That ■eant a great teal, because General W de eyer probably atands big er with the Generalissimo than any ailitary figure who has b n in China in ■ any years. Hollington Tong, Vice Minister of the latormation Bureau, who is the Generalissi ■ o's official interpreter, did a super~ job of rapidly translating the con er ■ ation; I suspeot that he improved on my part of it. A Chinese Gener 1, and a Colonel who is the Generalissimo's aid, sat across the room, listening, watching, as inani•ate as - 3 the bow s o f flow _ r . · . A l so, an_ abl e yo ng C hinese l e ri can, L ieutenant Horace I n g, o f General Wede e7er' s taff, s at s· le n tly ta ing notes. We spent an our in one of the cool, sp . aci o us ro , oms of the Gen . er a l ssi m o · s . home on the south bank o f the Ch'a Ling River, whioh flows into the Yangtze at that promintor7 so familiar to all of us in pictures. From there we went ou . t into Chia . ng lai Sbet.' s gardens ,. and continued our talk. The Generalissimo told me that he hopes to ~isit the United States, in the near future. This in reply to a question as to whether it might not be a good idea tor the beads ot the major powers to hold one of their meetings in America. Re added that he bad long wanted to visit our country, and had lo , ng dr , eaaed of seeing with his own e7es the things he has heard so auch about. Be sa d he hopes to do this soon. ' In response to a question about someone to succeed him, s inoe man is only mortal, he gave an -4 inte sting e y. Be is not old· 0 ly in hi ' iddle fi ie . Bu he has been the head of he R t9 onali t Go er ent ow for twenty years, a long time for any man to hold the reins of power. In fact, h has played such a dominant role in China, for so long, that it isn't easy to think of the govern ent he e without hi at the head of it. Bis answer was that as rapidly as possible he ia ca nelizing the govern■ ent, as he put it, in a democratic, constit~ ional ■anner, so that it will soon be well 6~~h organized, and on a sufficientl7 solid democratic foundati n, that it will aurYi e regardless of who the future leadQ~S happen to be. The above came out in the course of a description he was giYing a of his aore than thirty years as a public figure in China. Spea~in& ot the history ot hi• country, he ointed out that for three thouaand and ore years, China was an absolute ■ onarchy; that he hiaselt - 5 - o i n S n t S en and hi Q revo lu · nary m o veaent, n 1907, . n a n i ne een y ar e o l d· that in r · ve e a s t e nty - fou r y e r s old, the revolution ha s uc c eeded, the three thou and year old o na~chy had een overthrown, and the new regime, the Chinese Republ "c , fi ly e s t a bl " hed. B went on to s ay that or t e n y year _ he bas been engaged in carrying out h at he call• The Destructive Phase.• B1 this he meant the suppressing of innumerable war lords, the thwarting of atteapts to restore the ■onarchy -- and the waging pt inter ·nable war. But he add d with great e phasia that aach cm1tructive ork has b - ee . n done in this aaae period; as he put it, against alaoat o-verwhelming alls. To ill11atrate be referred to the ten years b has been ■aking hia baadq -arte here in the Provine e of Szechwan, and said that when he first caae, a traYeler wbo aade a journ 1 for as short a distance as a hundred miles, had to pay tribute to three ar lords. Be declared that going fro ■ 6 - Chungking to Iunming :-n those days meant a jo11rue1 of ~enty-four days1 with another sixteen da s added if you continued on to Lungling, s om , e two hundred and thirt)" miles to the we , st on the route to Burma and India. And then he told with pride of the network of roads he bas built, of which the Burma Ro , a , d is only one. With even aore fervor he spoke of the change in the appearance, the improv,d health of the people. Re said that when he and his colleagues ca•e to . szecbwan, the inhabitad& were like walking skeletons, partly because of malatttrttion, but also because aost of t,he pop · alation had fallen under the demoralizing iafluence of opium. Then he told how the opiua habit had been wtped out. And be spoke of the round,s•iliag faces now to b:e seen in ehungkin. , g, Chengtu • . and elsewhere . • After pointing out these things he said that 0 - 7 - what had been done so fa as only a beg nning. But he f ls that hen you cons der the age of China and the stat of decay into which it bad fallen, that thirty-odd years has not been too long a time for what be ter s The Destructive Period for the eli inati c n of reacti nary le ents to where he says it is now possible to announce the beginning of a new period in Chinese history. In spite of constructive work already done, the Generalissimo said he felt that the Gonatructi~• Period is getting under way right at this mo ent. In th f w onths that Gener&l Wede eyer has · be n h re defeatism has all but vanished. The Chinese forces have had some victories to buck the ■ up. lore and more sup- plies are arriving for the war with Japan. nd every- body, from veteran correspondents to military and ~tate Department people, as well as the Chinese, haTe been t•lling me that General ledeaeyer bas been a great success. In fact, I am wondering whether all this may 8 no have etb·ng to do •it the Gener6lissimo'e announcement that China is o - enter~n that long hoped £or pha e of he olit1cal, social, and economic history, what he calls The Constructive Period Inev· ably the subject of the Chinese Comaunist1 came up. Oiiang lai Shek spoke of them without m7 as ing the usual questms: •that role are the ~011- aunist , s pla7ing? Will he ever get togethe , ~ with tbe ■? . And so on. Re denied t . bat they were as 11any, in . nuaber 11 has been reported. Despite the fact tbat ••n~ are aa.7 - ing otherwise, the Generalie . siao in , sisted to •• that the so a , alled Chinese Com . aunists ar , e not a aaJor problem. Incidentally, he sp · ote with great enthua iasa about the wort done by missionaries in China. And • Yolunteered this. I wasn't surprised that he spoke in praise of ' the ; but, I was aur , prised b7 the t · re ■endous enth~a as with which be spoke about the part -9- missionaries have played in putting ne life into China. A s I as about to leave I told Chiang Iai-Sbek that no matter how many American press and radio people he had met in the past, their number would shrink into lnsignficance when thd coming journalistic invasion gets under way -- now that the war in llrope is over. Be laugh9d, and thanke · d me for the tip, and said he woulcl at once prepare himself to meet the invasion. lith the ■ odeaty and politeness for whib the Chinese are justly famed, he remarked that he felt himself totally inadequate when it came to ■eeting the press. As~s often been said, the Generalissimo's pictures do not do him justice. Be is neither cold, austere, nor poker-faced. On the contrary, he is wara, gracious, animated, and exceedingly articulate. Be looks you straight in the eye, and speaks with a directness and an enthusiasm that causes you to come - 10 - away fe-el · ng that whateve 1~ the f'uture may bold in store for the half billion p eople or this ancient land, t - at for twenty 7ears a strong and unusually capable . man has been the leader of a country that is faat eme . rging froa thirty centur,ea of oppression; that China~ "Land of Opium," •The Sleeping Giant,• is indeed awake and on the march. Tom , orrow I hope to report to you on a j omiey I have made . right acros a China to where the Chinese armies are chasing the retreating Jape. So long, until to•o~row, and now all the wa7 back to Rew York ant t . lle IBC. -- . ... . o . ..... 0 V 0 I a 0 0 r . i 1 0 of t r 0 i h 0 OU s in olve the vO . et in I s on 0 rsa of o ·sh e oc yin i of ol nd emocr tic 01·s d ro bro mon 0 t e _ 1 t i the fo er re r of the Po ish government in exile - .I For r Premi r ~ Mee- o-lah-chik. The news com from the British Forei n office, which st tea invit tions to the conf rence have been issued by the 'ovi t Government. At the sam tim, r sidenti 1 Emiss ry ar y ins rgturne to ashin 1 ton to ay - after his ~ ..,;:;. c1. ..... "'" --: issi o to oac in behalf of Pre id nt Truman. Hopkins is report o be brin ing im ort , nt pro 0 1 from ,, hat Sov·et . r ... ie t 1·n - "' D m .. el be one of thi con ern h e ing of e Pol 8 to b ld in 0 co n Frid y. Th / hit H s l te this f t rn o Ho 1 · i t r n cri ti o n that infor t· n one ning the or i l l di 08 y r / nt Trum·n on er n n ro tomor , let's h r fro o w ell Thoma, by ~ ~ ~ r . ~ - - w c & l T J Okin , n Vil th ·r rue i is the 1 r from t · k. n th 1 t t nd on ·ndic· te th t - a mer at er of dye. Th ir c e b C .e of n m i n 1 n ing on t e sot r mot shor of th i land - ti htenin the net un h t n do 1 ene y n m t oo re bein sm shed ith eve thin t t o en · r c n e i e. But it's ferocious o·n for our men. • fie Ja s are · king I their last st n t the top of ru ged escarpment , i h ri es so teep that American troops, to get up to them, have to use scalin of rope. -----0----- / This bitter last phase on O ina a follows / rejection of an erican dem n for surren er. The emand s dro ed to the Jap comn n er fr m n airplane. n r t to ma the more persu sive , 11 American rtiller c ir , a · i tin r ly. There · s str n e s·lenc in the er· , an n Butt Ja dl. n't sto h t· s o ng, nd it w s appa~P t hey ere taking adv nt e of the t e h . ositi 11 of bich m nt SU rejecte. It o 1 effect t brin ·n i r J n s fir i _ u t n o s or ri on o th gun opene ain. The top of the ene y hel ridge erupted ith explosions, and the l , t phase of the battle fop Okinaw as on. / To o tells of still noth r American air assault int th Japanese home islands - Japan under attack for the eev nth consecutive day. Tokyo describes the assaulting air fleets as ran ing fro wasp-like fighter to iant B-29s. Their targets ere air fields on Iyushu, Japan'a southernmost island - those airfields from hich Jap suicide planes take off. Th s in Japa e e retreat in China sees to hav h 1 d - ith ord fro Chungking telling of violent en my counter-attac s. On _ of these has recaptured Ishan. That i portant city had been abandon in the course of Japanese ithdra als, but again to a sudden Jap counter-offensive. . / In addition to the counter-attacks, Chungking reports that enemy resistance has stiffened every here - which ould make it appear that ttie Jape have reached a line along hicn they intend to stand. BOBIEQ -- The ne a from Borneo indic tes that the in ading Australians have not yet encountered any the city of Brunei, capital of the sector into which they are driving -- the protectorate of Brunei. And now -- Goodnight.