In a restless Asia, revolutionary in mood, caught between two opposing ideological and political forces, the question of the supply of this commodity upon which life itself is based has farreaching political implications. The major problem in the struggle to keep south and southeast Asia free of Communist domination is the standard of living of their peoples and the development of their economic resources. In 1952 Communist China emerged as an exporter of rice--a dramatic change after so many years of scarcity; and the Communists have made much of the fact in their propaganda in Asia, offering "New China" as an example of the productive superiority of the Communist system. There is urgent need for efforts to help the peoples of south and southeast Asia understand that the pretense of plenty and prosperity in China is a myth. And it is even more urgent that they be made to realize that increased production and a higher standard of living are possible in their own countries without the adoption of totalitarian methods. The struggle of the "East" versus the "West" in Asia is, in part, a race for production, and rice is the symbol and substance of it.