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For the majority of the readers of Pacific Affairs, the three languages most difficult of access are Chinese, Japanese and Russian. And they are languages of a special importance at the present time. What could we learn, if we were able to read Japanese, of the spirit of discipline and united fervor which we are told is characteristic of the Japanese people? Are the Chinese uncertain and desperate, or is their spirit more firm than it has ever been? What does the Chinese press offer to Chinese readers in this time of crisis? Again, is the Soviet press devoted to dictatorial suppression of the truth, or does it let the citizens of the country know what is really going on in the world, what the real issues are -- and let them form their own opinions?

Many of the answers are to be found in PACIFIC DIGEST. The translations from Japanese newspapers and magazines are interesting a very curious way. In the first place, assertion, declaration, exhortation and repetition almost entirely take the place of statements of fact -- especially unpleasant fact. Logical argument based on facts fairly faced and honestly analyzed is not to be found. In the second place, there are surprising evidences of doubt and even fear, but these are expressed in hints, respectful suggestions to the authorities and deferential comments which are worded to look like endorsements of official policy, but manage to convey the impression that all is not perfectly well. In short, the secret of Japan's weakness is not so well kept in Japan as it is in most of the "neutral" press.

By contrast, the Soviet press is robustly democratic. There is a fervent sympathy for China, but no easy-going pretense that China can be saved simply by letting Japan defeat itself. The Soviet press is free of the Bogus "neutrality" which disgraces a large part of the American and, still more, the British newspapers--the formula that if you say something nasty about the Japanese you must also say something disparaging about the Chinese, and the assumption that other countries are not concerned and cannot do anything about it, anyhow, This does not mean that the weaknesses of China are disguised from Soviet readers; on the contrary, they are discussed and criticized -- but intelligently and constructively. The military articles are particularly good.

Most interesting of all are the translations from the Chinese . Here the range of good and bad quality reflects a nation in agony. Is it the agony of collapse, or does it presage the rise of a stronger, sounder nation? Evidently China is not yet free of hysteria and sentimentality. Evidently there are still, in high and influential places, those pestilential moralists whose horizon is bounded by the idea of persuading the coolie that his glorious duty is to die for his natural lords and masters, the bureaucratic officials and the "cultured" landlords -- the scholar-gentry.

Even more important, however, is the bold discussion of the immense reforms and sacrifices that are necessary to enable China to save itself and defeat Japan. Problems can be openly debated in the Chinese press today that could only be whispered about by "agitators" a couple of years ago. This is because the Chinese people have to be given liberties and alnd [[land]] and work -- things that are worth defending -- if they are to defend themselves with the hard, unflinching course that is necessary. China is taking its place beside Spain in devotion to the democratic faith that armies can only defeat armies, and that no army can defeat a whole people in arms.