MEETING OF LEADERS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 27 November 1943, Page 3

MEETING OF LEADERS

INVITATION TO CHIANG KAI-SHEK PROBLEMS OF THE PACIFIC WAR. NEED OF FULL ATTENTION IN BRITAIN. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) NEW YORK, November 26. President Chiang Kai-shek has been invited to participate in the meeting between Mr. Churchill, President Roosevelt and Marshal Stalin, reports the “New York Times’ ” London correspondent. The Chinese leader will not take part in the discussions about Europe, but will participate in Messrs. Roosevelt’s and Churchill’s Far Eastern talks. However, all four are expected to join in any communique issued at the end of the conference. It is felt in London that it is no less necessary to discuss possible peace terms with Japan and ways and means of controlling the Japanese after the war than it is to reach a definite conclusion about Europe. There is considerable satisfaction in official circles in London about the prospect of President Chiang’s participation, but the fact remains that the British people as a whole are so preoccupied with the task of beating the Germans that they have acquired very little understanding of the many forces operating in the Pacific. This has disturbed the British Government, which is aware that the percentage of “Pacific flrst-ers” in the United States is comparatively high, as a result of which dangers might arise between Britian and American if Britain should tend to let down after Hitler’s defeat. » Faced with this problem in a country that has not in the past paid too much attention to the Pacific war, the British Government is now looking for opportunities not only to lay final plans for the Pacific war, but to convince their people that additional sacrifices are needed after Hitler’s defeat. Indeed, President Chiang’s participation in the conference is expected to do much to prepare Britian for the war in the Pacific after what they call “the war.'