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[[image - William L. Lee waving from cockpit window]]

Peppery Brig. Gen. William L. "Jerry" Lee recently relinquished command of 13th AF

[[image - British Vampire jet fighters]]

Recent visitors to Clark AFB near Manila included two British Vampire jet fighters

[[image - airplane parked on runway with its wings folded in]]

US Navy shipboard fighters parked on the runway at Bagio, in the Philippine hills

items which had not even been seen until the American build-up began. Several new schools have been built, with the result that the number of classrooms has increased more than tenfold under the American administration, and even a university-the University of Ryukyus-has been established.

In short, the Ryukyus never had it so good, and we have been a bastion within striking distance of Siberia and the Chinese mainland which constitutes an important link in the defense chain in the Far East.

TAIWAN (FORMOSA)

This picturesque island, lying barely 100 miles off the southeast coast of the China mainland, is all that remains of Free, or Nationalist, China, and unquestionably is the hottest spot in the Far East today-so hot, in fact, that there is shooting going on. Here, President Chiang Kai-shek and about two and a half million followers who fled the Communist flood-tide on the mainland in 1949 have set up shop to prepare for the day when they can again go back to the land of their birth.

It is no stretch of the truth to state that the Nationalist Chinese government exists today only because of US aid and cooperation. Nor that it will continue to exist only so long as that partnership continues. Communist forces are being built up along the China mainland, and observers agree that it is only the threat of massive American retaliation, plus the fact that Communist China is trying desperately to gain membership in the United Nations, that has forestalled a Communist invasion of Taiwan.

The combined Chinese-American defenses on Taiwan are substantial. In addition to a well-armed, well-trained ground army, Chiang Kai-shek has an 80,000-man air force that is as good, man for man, as any in the world. Both the Nationalists and their Communist foes maintain aerial patrols of the Formosa Strait area and the China mainland and exchanges of bullets are almost daily occurrences. The record of the Nationalists pilots in American-built F-84 and F-86 jet fighters in these aerial skirmishes with Communist flying Soviet MIGs attests to the skill and proficiency of Chiang's air force.

The Sino-American Defense Pact, under which the US is committed formally to the defense of Taiwan, was signed in March 1955.

As a result of the pact, there was formed the US Taiwan Defense Command under Vice Adm. Stuart H. Ingersoll, who also commands the US Seventh Fleet on duty in Formosan waters. USAF operations are under the direction of Brig. Gen. Benjamin O. Davis, who heads Air Task Force Thirteen. Davis' air task force is a part of the Thirteenth Air Force, which has headquarters at Clark Air Base, Philippine Islands.

In addition, in Taiwan we maintain a huge Military Assistance Advisory Group (MAAG) headed by Maj. Gen. George W. Smythe, which works with the Nationalist forces in matters of training and equipment.

According to Gen. Davis, the relationship between the Nationalist Chinese and Americans on Taiwan is "better than between Americans and any other nationals in the world."

PHILIPPINE ISLANDS

Depending on what Philippine newspapers you read, the US is either (1) a protective benefactor spending huge sums to bolster the economy and build up the defense of the 10-year-old Republic against the forces of Communism, or (2) a many-tentacled ogre which is attempting to sap the strength and independence of the young nation.

It is not until one has spent a few days asking questions that the situation begins to shape up in true perspective. Then, it becomes apparent that the US generally, and the US military forces in the Philippines specifically, are being used as "whipping boys" by political opponents of President Ramon Magsaysay.

Filipinos take their politics seriously and neither the party spokesman nor the partisan newspapers pull any punches.

President Magsaysay, who is of humble birth and limited formal education, is tremendously popular, particularly in the many barrios (small villages) which dot the islands. The door to his office is open to rich and poor alike, and he receives hundreds of his constituents, and listens patiently to their problems, every day. He is friendly and cooperative with US representatives and because of this has been labeled "excessively pro-American" by the opposition led by Senator Claro Recto.

Recto and his followers are critical of US economic and military aid, both quantitatively and qualitatively, and have attempted repeatedly to make cause celebre of any minor friction involving American military personnel and natives.

The much-publicized (but little understood) air base controversy is a case in point. Actually, there never has been any question of ownership of Philippine bases occupied by US mili-

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