THE NATION: Between Friends

The U.S. stood in a perilous position as the high-riding Chinese Communists took their seats at the U.N. Security Council this week. The visitors from Peiping had a good chance of driving a wedge between the U.S. and its allies. What Communism would lose by arms in Korea, the Reds were out to recover by blackmail.

At Lake Success, appeasement was in the air. The British were in a mood to make a deal, and their phrase for it was "buffer state." Their hope was that the Chinese Reds could be persuaded to withdraw peacefully to the Manchurian border, provided...