N the morning of June 4 Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin rose

by

TOM McEWEN

in the British

C) House of Commons, adjusted his horn-rim glasses and addressed the House: “The

-Chinese government has expressed profound regret at th port in Shangtung on April

ship WAN SHEN at a

has been taken against the pilots responsible. .

compensation with UNRRA.”

Earlier, on ‘the morning of April 2, millions of people Gpening their daily newspapers read in the headlines: REDS BOMB MERCY SHIP. COM- MUNISTS TRY TO SINK UNRRA SUPPLY SHIP, CANA- DIANS ON BOARD SHIP AT- TACKED BY REDS.

Behind this story “of +the bombing of an UNRRA ship in a Chinese port can be traced the sinister outline of Ameri- ean imperialist intrigue and Kuomintang corruption — twin stokers in the fires of civil war against the Chinese people.

It was given to the Pacific Tribune by a modest unassum- ing Canadian seaman who has spent twenty-four years of his life at sea, attained the rank of chief officer, and has a splendid war record in the merchant marine. Torpedoed four times during the war; held prisoner of war by the Japan- ese in the fall of Singapore, the recipient of honorable recog- nition by governments of the British Commonwealth, Chief Officer William D. Haining of Vancouver has good cause to reject the story given to mil- lions of workers by the com- mercial press on the ‘Red’ bombing, together with the ‘profound regrets’ of Chiang Kai-shek given through the British foreign secretary. And as for the ‘compensation’ of - UNRRA—it all depends who is

being compensated and by

whom? ; J

T + eight o’clock on _ the

morning of April 2 the Brit- ish captain of the China Water Transport Wan Shen _ brought tis ship into the North China

_ FRIDAY, AUGUST 29, 1947

port of Chih Shiu So. His cargo was UNRRA supplies, consigned to the Communist liberated areas of North China through the agency of the China Liber- ated Areas Relief Association (CLARA), in accordance with the provisions of the basic agreement between UNRRA and the Nationalist government of Chiang Kai-shek. _ -

“Would the captain move his

ship a little closer inshore?” a Kuomingtang official obsequi- ously requested at 9 am. The captain did as -requested. At 9.25 am. two American-built P.41’s with the blue and white insignia of the Nationalist gov- ernment (with three gold bands added). roared over the Wan Shen dropping high explosive bombs and raking the ship’s @ecks with 20-calibre machine gun fire. Four times ... swoop- ing low, the P.4l’s returned to the bombing and strafing of a defenseless ship. In the first unexpected attack the captain and Chief Officer Haining were founded, the cap- tain seriously. In the second round two Chinese seamen were hit with shrapnel. Following their attack on the Wan Shen in the harbor of Chih Shiu So the P.41’s departed in the nor- therly direction of Tsingtao.

The captain and his men who who were badly wounded in the first and second attacks were taken aboard the U.S. destroy- er D.D.716, which had answered the SOS of the Wan Shen as she put to sea to avoid fur- ther attacks.

Carrying out his captain’s or- ders, given when the latter was transfered to the D.D.716, Chief Officer Haining took the

2 this year. 2 . and orders issued for the question of

e bombing of the relief disciplinary action

Wan Shen to quarantine an- chorage at Tsingtao, and then went ashore to the U.S. hospital ship Repose for badly needed medical treatment. |

It is important to note that the port of Tsingtao, approxi- mately 60 miles north of Chih Shiu So where the bombing took place is a ‘closed port,’ where the U.S. navy governs in ac-

_cordance with the Truman Doc-

trine. As a ‘closed port’ it serves as a U.S. barrier between the liberated communist - controlled areas and the Soviet-controlled port of Dairen. Only cargo ships under UNRRA _ or = subsidiary charter can enter Tsingtao. Returning to his ship the fol- lowing day, Chief Officer Hain- ing had some distinguished visi- tors, official representatives of

Chiang Kai-shek. Yen Kuo-fu, |

Shangtung representative of the National Assembly, and T. F. Tsai, Shangtung-Tsingtao region- al office of the Chinese Nation- al Relief and Rehabilitation As- sociation (CNRRA).

“So sorry,’ so sorry,’ mur- mured Yen Kou-fu, bowing low and presenting the Canadian cfficer “with a huge bouquet of exquisite flowers. “So sorry... an accident . . perhaps these planes came from Dairen, and not acquainted with the mark- ings of your ship . . . so sorry.”

The crafty Yen Kuo-fu_ pro- fessed not to know whether the planes were Communist or Na- tionalist. “But yes,” he opined, “they must have come from Dairen”—which, of course, would make them Communist.

Such palavers were a bit try- ing to a chief officer whose cap- tain had just been pretty badly shot up, and whose own legs

were still full of shrapnel splin-' ters. “Is this your Own excuse, or did it come from Nanking?” he asked. :

Yen Kuo-fu assumed a poker- ‘face and took his leave. On the gang plank he replaced his ‘so sorry’ mask and invited the Canadian to the hospitality of a dinner as a mark of “apprecia- tion of injuries received.”

a @

HIEF Officer MHaining had

more important business on his mind than formal dinners. On the morning of the 7th he paid a visit to the Tsingtao air- port. There he saw 14 P41 fighter planes, all with the insignia of the Nationalist government, and only two with the three gold. bands behind the insignia, the identical markings of the planes which had attacked his ship.

A long line of Scottish ances- tors has endowed Chief Officer Haining with a native trait for being ‘canny.’ Not good to jump to too many conclusions even when ashore, thought this Van- couver seaman. Checking with a U.S. Marine Corps captain he learned that a log is kept of all planes checking out and in. He learned that two of the fourteen planes—the ‘two with the national insignia and the three gold bands had taken off on the morning of the 2nd about 9 am., heading in the direction of Chih Shiu So. They returned to the airfield a few minutes after 10 o’clock. :

The Marine captain, who was possibly not well up in atomic diplomacy, also advanced the in- fermation that “these planes were armed when they took cff, but had no bombs in the carriers when they returned.”

Yen Kuo-fu’s ‘apologies,’ his bouquet of exquisite flowers and his murmured “Dairen” were transformed into a horror story, read by millions of people throughout the world, to the effect that the Communists had bombed a UNRRA mercy ship.

The ‘correction’ made weeks later, even the ‘profound regrets’ — voiced by Ernest Bevin on be half of Chiang Kai-shek, were effectively buried by the lords of the press in back pages. It was intended that the lie should stick, and had it not been for the courage and integrity of an officer of the Canadian Mer- chant Marine, in all probability it would have done.

® ‘HIS does not end the story for Chief Officer Haining, but it serves to round out the lar ger story of imperialist intrigue and cunning on the checker board of power-politics in China It is now clear from documents and statements carried in the Chinese press, that UNRRA was used by Chiang Kia-shek, with U.S. imperialist backing, a3 ® political weapon against the Chinese people. On April 15 the CLARA openly accused the UNRRA of coward- ice and said: ‘It has long bee? evident that the government (Nationalist) has interfered with the equitable distribution of T@ lief contrary to its basic agree ment with UNRRA, and that the bombing of the Wan Shen was a deliberate attempt on the part of the Chiang Kai-shek government to intimidate the UNRRA, and thereby stop all 1elief and medical supplies reaching the people in thé Communist-controlled areas.’ Even before the bombing of the Wan Shen UNRRA supplies. for the Communist areas been reduced to a trickle. the 1,900,000 tons of supplies reaching China, 42,750 tons, or less than 2.25 percent have been distributed in the ii erated areas, according t? Y survey made by the C The bombing of the wan Shen was a ruse ‘of the KUO” mingtang government, aided ant abetted by U.S. dollar imperial ism, to cut the last trickle 2 food and medicine to the liber ated areas. : It fell to the honor 9° a Canadian seaman to plan important part in a great ar and he played it well. The Shangtung Regional Of fice of the CLARA sent message to Chief Officer Will D. Haining and the seamen Wan Shen. the “Dear workers on board a Wan Shen. You have undertake® — such great hardships in prins” ing relief supplies to the liber ated areas to enable the people of this area to have cess to a few of the amenities: In addition to expressing pope

jam of

heartfelt gratitude .. . We “) cur friendship will be furtll jn 0°

cemented in the future, de common efforts to achieve 1” pendence, democracy and Pi perity for the Chinese peor Here’s to unity amone — workers . . he e : the. RDERS are issued for tion question of compens® Or with UNRRA,” sonorously the nounced Ernest Bevin 0? (Continued on Page 12) See CHIANG KAI-SHES

dwellings.

only were its two chiefs

taken along with them,

Promotion-Kuomintang style — |

A EARMED at the high rate of losses among Hi | generals (202 have been killed or captured this - year), Chiang Kai-shek recently ordered commanders to hide their identity during active operations.

The officers were told to dress as privates and wear insignia in their inside pockets. Instead of grab- bing the best house in a village, cautioned to set up headquarters

The 70th Kuomintang division, lowed this advice to the letter. But

secret orders outlining the new safety regulations

commanders W€ in poorer quality

it is reported, it didn’t help. of staff captured but

were

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PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FAS