For the past six years the largest country in the world—with a quarter of the earth’s population—has been a blank space on the map of American foreign policy. For many reasons, political and moral, our government has steadfastly refused to recognize the government of Communist China. That refusal has been strongly supported by both political parties, and almost certainly reflects the emotions of most Americans. Yet many people concerned with foreign affairs have expressed uneasiness about this situation.

A combination of 200 million Russians and 600 million Chinese would confront us with an array of military manpower that we and our…