Hundreds of thousands marched the streets of Chinese Communist cities again as the Mao Tse-tung regime protested against the South Vietnamese and American offensive against the Ho Chi Minh trail in the southern panhandle of Laos. Peiping promised more assistance to Hanoi and issued a series of "strong warnings" to the United States.
From London to Saigon and from Hanoi to Moscow, however, there seemed to be no expectation that the Chinese Reds were about to send "volunteers" into Indochina as they did into Korea in 1950. There were a number of reasons why the Peiping regime would not want to become involved in a head-on conflict with the United States:
- Fear of a stab in the back from the Soviet Union.
- Probability of counterattack across the Taiwan Straits by the forces of the Republic of China.
- Distance of the Laos panhandle front from the Chinese mainland border.
- Unwillingness of Hanoi to permit large Chinese Communist combat forces to enter North Vietnam.
- Absence of an active threat to the existence of North Vietnam, as was the case with North Korea in October-November of 1950.
- Possibility that conflict on a big scale would be escalated from conventional to nuclear weapons.
- Chinese Communist difficulty in supporting a major war after the reverses of the "cultural revolution."
- Certainty of insurrections by anti-Communists and anti-Maoists under cover of war involvement.
Peiping's motive appeared to involve hope (1) that the United States could be intimidated into limiting the Laos incursion, (2) that the doves in the U.S. Congress could be encouraged to pass anti-war resolutions or withhold military appropriations and (3) that Washington could be persuaded to restrain South Vietnam from any ground action against North Vietnam. President Nguyen Van Thieu of South Vietnam said his army of more than a million was strong enough to strike across the 17th parallel. The United States implied it would not veto any military enterprise which Saigon felt strong enough to carry out.
Both Hanoi and Peiping appeared to be concerned about the success of the Laos campaign.
The Chinese Communists could find no consolation or support in the attitude of the Russians, who showed cold hostility and a disinclination to pull Peiping chestnuts out of the fire in Indochina. Moscow attacks on the Maoists increased in volume. The Kremlin ridiculed the Chinese Reds for their inability to rebuild their party and convene the fourth "National People's Congress."
Two more CCP committees were announced - in Anhwei and Chekiang. Speculation that the congress would be held in March seemed premature. There were still too many committees to go. Control of the military was so strong that party, cadres and members of "mass organizations" had lost interest in the meeting and were ignoring demands that the proposed "constitution" be discussed further. Reports from the underground suggested a widespread feeling that the document had already been "discussed to death."
From Edgar Snow and others who had seen Mao and Chou En-lai recently came affirmation that the Chinese Communist foreign policy of the 1970s has two main objectives: isolation of the United States and the Republic of China internationally and setting of the stage for military operations against Taiwan.
Chou told Snow that if the Republic of China were expelled from the United Nations, Peiping would think about membership, but only on terms which either destroyed the U.N. or put power in the hands of the Chinese Communists and their accomplices. He made clear that Peiping would prefer to have the U.N. go the way of the League of Nations than to permit either the United States or the Soviet Union to have a dominant voice.
Search for unity in party reconstruction was still defying all efforts of the Maoists. Red Flag felt compelled to lash out at "fake unity" and neutralist silence. "You must not speak equivocally or perfunctorily or try to play a compromising neutralist role," said the periodical dedicated to the theory of Mao thought.
Unity should not provide any problem, said Red Flag. It consists of "all party members from the lowest to the highest speaking their minds." There is just one condition: that everything they say be based on the principles of Mao thought. To follow Mao is "genuine Marxism" and "democratic centralization." In other words, don't do as Mao does, but as he says, provided you can find out what he means at any given moment.
This was the record of Chinese Communist and peripheral affairs for the month from January 20 through February 19:
January 20
Japanese Foreign Office sources said they were working on strategy to safeguard the Republic of China's seat at the United Nations. Foreign Minister Kiichi Aichi spoke of the possibility of talks with Peiping but said that no indirect or direct contacts were under way.
South Korea asked Japan to deal "more cautiously" with the Chinese Communists.
January 21
Reports from the mainland told of improvement of Chinese Communist weaponry in categories ranging from rifles to tanks. Production of a jet bomber based on pre-schism Russian designs was said to be under way.
Nepotism turned up in the reorganization of the Chinese Communist Party. In Shanghai, Mao's son-in-law, Yao Wen-yuan, emerged as No.2 man on the party committee headed by Chang Chun-chiao, a figure head. In Liaoning, Mao's nephew, Mao Yuan-hsin, 28, became No.2 on the party committee. Yao wrote the article that kicked off the "cultural revolution" in November of 1965. Mao Yuan-hsin is the son of Mao's eldest brother, Tse-min, who was executed in 1943.
London reports said Chinese Communist radio broadcasts had been increased by 150 hours weekly in the last two years. Total time is now 1,450 hours weekly. Newly added are programs in Polish, Romanian, Spanish and Albanian. A new station in South China is broadcasting to Southeast Asia in Chinese, Malay and Tamil.
Soviet Vice Foreign Minister L. F. Ilyichev and members of his delegation to the Peiping border talks turned up at a ballet performance of the "Red Detachment of Women."
January 22
Addressing the opening session of the Japanese Parliament, Prime Minister Eisaku Sato said any approaches to Peiping would have to be made with "special circumspection." He described Japan's relations with the Republic of China as "warm, amicable and friendly."
Japan said trade with the Chinese Communists reached US$824 million in 1970 with exports of US$571 million (up 46.3 per cent) and imports of US$253 million (up 8.2 per cent). Exports of machinery increased 250 per cent and steel by 45 per cent.
Admitting that prostitutes ply their trade in Canton, the Chinese Communists blamed it on the examples of Hongkong and Macao. The Reds said prostitutes were mostly the wives of husbands who were serving labor reform sentences and girls sent down to the countryside who had made their way back to the city.
January 23
Tass, the Russian news agency, told of food shortages, poverty and lack of medical services in the Chinese mainland countryside. Who gets what in rural communes is determined, Tass said, by loyalty to Mao Tse-tung rather than work. Harvests were reported good in the last year but heavy exactions for "war preparations" left commune members without enough grain for "minimum subsistence." Tass said that in one model commune the annual per capita income was about US$74. A Kwangtung commune has one doctor, who has to work part time in the fields, for 60,000 people.
Former French Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Maurice Couve De Murville, who visited the Chinese mainland recently, said that strained relations between Peiping and Moscow would continue indefinitely. He said the Chinese Communists were greatly concerned about Japan's economic and military growth.
Indonesian President Suharto told visiting Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau that Red Chinese subversion prevents Jakarta from normalizing relations with Peiping.
"New China News Agency" distributed an English-language report in Tokyo attacking Emperor Hirohito as "a proven arch-war criminal," "No. 1 hangman" and "political corpse." The article described Hirohito's appearance January 2 to receive greetings from commoners as "a living advertisement for the revival of militarism. "
Chile named Sergio Silva, a careerist, as ambassador to Peiping.
January 24
Peiping announced its seventh provincial level party committee. The Anhwei committee was established at a provincial congress in Hopei from January 15 to 21.
Hongkong reports said a flag of the Republic of China was found hanging from a tree near a Chinese Communist army post after an explosion at Sai Chung commune in Po On county, Kwangtung.
Japanese Junior Chamber of Commerce officials told of plans to send a group of about 20 businessmen to the Chinese mainland in the summer.
Manila reported a Maoist plot to assassinate President Ferdinand Marcos.
January 25
Prime Minister Eisaku Sato told the Lower House that the Japanese government would not abandon the Republic of China and leap into the arms of Peiping. The ROC seat at the United Nations must be defended, he added. Answering a questioner who called for a peace treaty with Peiping, Sato said the state of war between China and Japan was terminated with the World War II peace treaty concluded with the Republic of China in 1952. "I am aware that Peiping does not recognize this treaty," Sato said, "but Japan has to respect international good faith."
Prime Minister Tun Abdul Razak said Malaysia has no intention of establishing ties with the Chinese Communists and that no talks are contemplated.
Pro-Peiping scholars meeting in New York concluded that there is little likelihood of scholarly or cultural exchange with the Chinese Communists in the near future. Some predicted the opening of trade relations as a result of Nixon administration relaxation of the embargo.
Senator George McGovern of South Dakota, a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1972, urged U.S. diplomatic recognition of Peiping and the Chinese Communist regime's admission to the United Nations.
January 26
Reports from Hongkong told of increased Chinese Communist war preparations in southwest China, including Yunnan and Kwangsi provinces. Reinforcements have been sent to the area and war games staged, the reports said, in response to Maoist clamor for support of "people's war" in Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Thailand. Peiping "vice defense minister" Hsiao Ching-kuang was said to have visited Kunming, the capital of Yunnan, and Nanning, the capital of Kwangsi, in January. He was reported to have conferred with Chou Hsing and Chen Kang in Kunming and Chiao Hung-kwang in Kwangsi.
January 27
Economic Affairs Minister Bunchana Atthakor said Thailand should not attempt to trade with the Chinese Communists in order to correct a trade deficit. He disagreed with proposals that Thailand separate economics from politics after the Japanese pattern, and said the country has "better alternatives."
Peiping said 10 members of the Philippines defense forces in Capas, Tarlac province, had killed two officers and deserted to the Communist "New People's Army of the Philippines."
January 28
A joint editorial of People's Daily, Liberation Army Daily and Red Flag said some Chinese Communist Party members have grown tired of Mao's class struggle. "Some comrades," the editorial said, "entertain the erroneous concept that the campaign of struggle-criticism-transformation should come to an end in order to normalize the situation." What these members have not understood, the article continued, is the "protracted, complicated and turning and twisting characteristics of the class struggle."
The State Department said the United States and Chinese Communists have been exchanging scientific information. Specifically cited was the case of Kitt Peak Observatory in Arizona, which exchanged astronomical data with observatories in Peiping, Nanking and Kunming.
Reports from Peiping said the Japanese president of the Asian Amateur Table Tennis Federation would seek the ousting of the Republic of China and seating of the Red Chinese at a meeting in Singapore February 7 and 8. Koji Goto went to Peiping to invite the Chinese Communists to compete in the world championships at Nagoya in late March and early April. Peiping is a member of the world association.
January 29
Ninety per cent of Hongkong's exports to the Chinese mainland in the January-October period of 1970 were steel bars (HK$3.44 million) and scrap (HK$18.77 million). The Chinese Communists were seeking bars and scrap for their arms build-up and because of the slow recovery of the mainland steel and iron industry in the wake of the "cultural revolution." Hongkong's steel imports from the mainland declined. Those from Taiwan rose from HK$2.27 million in January-October of 1969 to HK$36.4 million in the corresponding period of 1970.
Modesto Farolan, Philippine ambassador to Indonesia, called on the Pacific Area Travel Association meeting in Manila to open up Chinese mainland tourism. Delegates from the Republic of China took issue with the proposal.
January 30
Travelers from Canton told of Chinese Communist construction of elaborate tunnel systems at industrial plants in coastal provinces. Intersecting system have been built under hillsides in factory areas. Family shelters are being dug in cities and suburban areas with the regime providing cement and some other materials. People had only the vaguest idea of the possible enemy and talked of the Russians, Americans and Japanese.
Writing in Current Scene, Professor Dwight Perkins of Harvard said the Chinese Communists did not increase agricultural productivity significantly in the 1960s. Gains could not possibly have kept pace with the population increase, he said.
Peiping claimed record grain output in 1969 and 1970. The Russians estimated food grains at between 185 and 190 million tons in 1969, approximately the level of 1959. A U.S. estimate for 1969 was 200 million tons and a Hongkong estimate for 1970 was 210 to 220 million tons. Per capita consumption would be down compared with the late 1950s even if the highest figure were correct.
NCNA claimed that the Communist Party of the Philippines was re-established two years ago as a Maoist organization and that "revolutionary committees" were being established in rural areas.
January 31
Chekiang's new Communist Party committee was established at Hangchow with Nan Ping, PLA commissar of the Chekiang military region, as chairman. Delegates totaling 1,159 were said to have elected 67 members and 22 alternate members. Nan Ping is also chairman of the provincial "revolutionary committee."
Peiping is establishing factory schools, especially in electronics. The regime claims that 530 have been opened but the number could be considerably larger.
The acknowledged goal is education for production and Mao-think loyalty while omitting culture and general education.
Mohamed Labib Shukeir, the president of the Egyptian National Assembly, and his party left Peiping after a stay of five days. Relations between the Egyptians and the Soviet ambassador, Vassili Tostikov, seemed to be warmer than those with the Chinese Communists, who apparently thought Cairo had weakened on support of the Palestinian guerrillas. The guerrillas have been strongly supported by Peiping and their representative was not at the airport to see the Egyptians off. In one round of speechmaking, the Chinese Communist spokesman mentioned the guerrillas six times while the visiting Egyptian dignitary made only one discreet reference to Palestinians.
An effigy of Mao Tse-tung was burned in New Delhi to protest the appearance of Maoist slogans on walls of the Gandhi shrine.
Chinese Communists arrived in Santiago, Chile, to set up Peiping's "embassy."
Nissan Motor Co., Japan's second largest manufacturer of automobiles, was reported studying the possibility of exports to the Chinese mainland. Nissan and its subsidiary, Toyota, have technical assistance and supply agreements with the Republic of China.
Hongkong sources told of the Communist detention of eight shrimp trawlers carrying about 100 fishermen because the boats were equipped with American-made engines. They were returning to Hongkong for the Chinese New Year's holiday when intercepted.
February 1
People's Daily complained that "a deadly wave of premature marriages" had made an appearance on the mainland. An article from students in Honan complained that those who married young were ignoring "reform of the old-time morality." The Chinese Communists support late marriage as a form of birth control.
Hongkong arrivals from Canton reported the execution of 45 persons on January 20. They were charged with counterrevolutionary activities. Most were youths who had been sent down to the countryside and sneaked back to the city.
Chinese who returned to Hongkong after New Year's visits to the mainland shivered in the lightest of clothing. They had shed layers of garments for relatives who live in Red China.
February 2
Prince Norodom Sihanouk said the Chinese Communists will arm a force of 70,000 to help him retake Cambodia. "I will enter Phnom Penh and then I will resign and leave for France," he said. Sihanouk was interviewed in Peiping by a Swiss journalist.
A Hongkong newspaper reported that the Chinese Communists would convene the "Fourth National People's Congress" March 20.
Peiping said the "Federation of Trade Unions," dissolved during the "cultural revolution," had resumed functioning. The organization was said to be operating a cadre school in response to the call of Mao Tse-tung.
An 11-man delegation arrived in Ottawa to set up the first Chinese Communist diplomatic establishment in North America. They arrived by train from Montreal after a flight from Paris. At their head was Hsu Chung-fu, the charge d'affaires.
Radio Moscow said rusticated young intellectuals on the Chinese mainland work 16 hours a day for pay that barely covers their board and lodging. "Many of them have been tortured to death and many others have committed suicide," the broadcast said.
Peiping announced it would send a table tennis team to compete in the world tennis championships at Nagoya. The Chinese Reds had passed up the competitions held in Sweden in 1967 and West Germany in 1969.
Japan's major opposition parties (Socialists, Komeito and Democratic Socialists) said they would submit a resolution to the Diet favoring admission of Peiping to the United Nations. It was doubtful that the resolution would reach the floor for debate.
February 3
Peiping accused the British government of engineering the military coup in Uganda. The article in People's Daily said the decline of the British Empire was "even more rapid than the sunset behind the Western Hills" (near Peiping) but that London was desperately trying to maintain its colonial interests and position in the Far East.
Ten Senators led by Jacob Javits of New York introduced a U.S. Senate resolution favoring the admission of Red China to the United Nations and "further relaxation of tensions" with Peiping. The resolution specifies that the Republic of China should not be expelled from the U.N. in return for the admission of Peiping. Joining Javits were Clifford Case, Philip Hart, Harold Hughes, Daniel Inouye, Edward Kennedy, Walter Mondale, Adlai E. Stevenson III, Stuart Symington and Harrison A. Williams Jr.
Washington reports said American pilots were flying SR71 reconnaissance flights over the Chinese mainland. The SR71 was reported to carry a crew of two.
Norman Barrymaine, formerly a correspondent in Red China, said the "National People's Congress" can be expected to entrench the army's hold on mainland power. He said the disappearance of Chen Po-ta is significant and has some bearing on the position of Mao. Mao badges are going out, he said, and slogans and photos of Mao have been removed from public places.
February 4
Peiping said the United States had begun a "fresh military adventure" in Indochina but would not be allowed to do as it wished. "It is our duty and obligation," the Peiping regime said, "to give all-out support and assistance to the three peoples of Indochina till complete victory in the war against U.S. aggression and for national salvation." This was the NCNA dispatch that led to expectation of some major announcement from Peiping. A message told newspapers to hold up publication, which implied an important announcement to follow. But this turned out to be only the missing paragraph of an earlier story. As finally transmitted, it was a warning to the United States against using nuclear weapons in Indochina.
Hongkong sources said Peiping was building 10 TU16 bombers monthly at the Sian arsenal in Shensi.
Six Chinese Communists, headed by Wang Yi-mu, former counselor of the "embassy" in Khartoum, arrived in Addis Ababa to establish an "embassy" in Ethiopia.
February 5
A report from Rawalpindi said the second highway between Pakistan and mainland China would be dedicated February 16. The Karakoram Highway cuts through the Khunjerab Pass to Qalandi on the main road to Lhasa.
Hongkong disclosed that 20 per cent fewer residents went to the mainland for the Chinese New Year holidays this year than in 1969. Between January 21 and February 5, a total of 79,549 Hon.gkong residents went to the mainland and 54,327 returned. Figures for 1969 were 100,209 leaving and 74,597 returning.
Pu Chao-min, a correspondent for NCNA, declined to enter the parliamentary press gallery at Ottawa because of the presence of Li Yueh, representing the Central News Agency of the Republic of China. The Candian government said it would not intervene in Pu's behalf, although Canada has recognized the Chinese Communists.
Opening a two-day Congressional conference on U.S. China policy, Senator Harold E. Hughes asked for "forgiveness" of and "reconciliation" with the Peiping regime.
February 6
London reports from Dar es Salaam told of an army of Chinese Communist engineers and technicians invading Tanzania to work on the railway to Gambia. The Tanzania Ministry of Information put the number at 4,000 and President Nyerere at 7,000. Unofficial sources put the number at 20,000 and said some were armed and engaged in work other than the rail project, including a military airport at Mikumi. Peiping is reported to have offered MIG17 aircraft and six patrol boats.
Taipei sources said strong Chinese Communist reaction to attacks on Communist forces in Laos was intended to intimidate the United States and give support to anti-war forces in the U.S. Congress.
The Congressional conference on U.S. China policy turned into a shouting match between young historians, who demanded faster action, and Congressmen favoring the recognition of Peiping. A political science professor from Johns Hopkins University accused the United States of war crimes in Southeast Asia. Representative S. M. Matsunaga of Hawaii responded, "With helpers like you, who needs enemies?"
February 7
Koji Goto, the Japanese president of the Table Tennis Federation of Asia, resigned when his bid to seat Peiping failed at a Singapore meeting.
Zentaro Kosaka, chairman of the foreign policy committee of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party of Japan, said the government might set up a corporation to trade with the Chinese Communists. Loans would be provided and offices opened in Peiping, Shanghai and Canton.
Deputy Prime Minister Douglas Anthony said Australia would not recognize Red China in order to promote sale of wheat. Peiping has been a big purchaser of Australian wheat but no deal has been closed for this year.
Burma accepted Chen Chao-yuan as Peiping's first "ambassador" since 1967, when relations were ruptured following anti-Communist rioting in Rangoon.
Li Ti-chun, the Republic of China's last ambassador to Chile, said the Chinese Communists will step up infiltration there and attempt to penetrate other Latin American countries. He predicted overthrow of the Marxist regime of Salvador Allende.
February 8
Hanoi said the Chinese Communists were strengthening military forces along the Laos and North Vietnamese borders. The North Vietnamese told of increased Chinese Communist assistance. They also reported an increase of high-altitude U.S. reconnaissance flights over South China.
Red Flag called for a mass austerity campaign to help fulfill the fourth five-year plan, of which 1971 is the first year. The article quoted Mao Tse-tung as saying that frugality was necessary in the development of a poor land.
Peiping rolled out the red carpet for a delegation from Equatorial Africa, which gained independence from Spain in 1968. Diplomatic relations with the Chinese Communists were established last October. According to Peiping Radio, a banquet for the visitors was attended only by Albania, North Korea, North Vietnam, the Viet Cong, the exile Cambodian regime of Norodom Sihanouk and African countries. Significantly excluded were the Soviet Union, European Communist countries and Cuba. There was speculation that the Chinese Communists hoped to move in on the infant republic (population 260,000) as another base for African infiltration and subversion.
Bolivian army forces told of seizing Oscar Zamora, a Maoist Communist leader, and overrunning his base.
February 9
An American magazine (US News and World Report) said the army had taken over the Chinese Communist Party and was ruling the mainland. Troops are everywhere, said the article, which attributed economic advances to military control.
Emerging from the mainland at Hongkong, Edgar Snow, long-time friend of Chinese Communists, said he found no hostility to Americans as individuals. He said he had several interviews with Mao Tse-tung and that he was in good health and "mentally alert." Snow lives in Zurich and was on a writing assignment for an Italian magazine.
A Philippines labor leader, Felixberto Olalia, returning from six weeks in Canton, said the Chinese Communists would trade with the Philippines provided relations with the Republic of China were broken, the United States was opposed and all of Peiping's international advocacies were supported.
Norodom Sihanouk returned to Peiping from two weeks in Hanoi. He was met by Chou En-lai.
February 10
Reports in Hongkong said the Kunming military region of the Chinese mainland, which includes Yunnan province bordering Laos, had been placed on an alert footing. People's Daily accused the United States of planning a surprise attack against North Vietnam and warned against such "playing with fire." Britain was denounced for "open support of the U.S. invasion of Laos," said Peiping, which added that the Americans would "not be allowed to run amuck in Indochina."
Nigeria and Peiping agreed to establish diplomatic relations at the ambassadorial level.
The Chinese Communists said they were sending tinned food and blankets to flood victims in Malaysia.
February 11
Japan Air Lines denied reports that it was withdrawing from the Sino-Japanese Cooperation Committee in the hope of establishing service to the Chinese mainland. JAL is a private company but half its stock is owned by the Japanese government, which recognizes the Republic of China. JAL President Matsuo Shimuza said it would be "ridiculous" for JAL to jeopardize its profitable service between Japan and Taipei.
Travelers from mainland China said uniformed soldiers are stationed aboard civil aircraft, presumably to guard against hijackings. Aircraft are of propeller types. Prospective passengers must fill out lengthy application forms and submit to searching investigation before being allowed to buy tickets.
Japanese reports said the government would adopt a yuan system for settling trade balances with the Chinese Communists, provided Peiping would guarantee conversion of any balances to other currencies. Settlement has been in pounds sterling.
Departing Tokyo for Peiping were two groups: Parliamentary Union for the Normalization of Japan-(Red) China Relations, led by Aiichiro Fujiyama, and the Japan-(Red) China Memorandum Trade Talks Mission led by Kaheita Okazaki.
February 12
State Department sources said operations in Laos were not a threat to the Chinese Communists and that there was no indication that Peiping would respond militarily. NCNA had said Laos was a close neighbor of the Chinese mainland and that the move into that country was considered to be "a grave menace."
Diplomatic analysts in Hongkong said Peiping could be expected to increase assistance to North Vietnam. A delegation headed by Le Thanh Nghi, Hanoi's chief aid negotiator, arrived in Peiping from Moscow, where a new technical assistance agreement was signed by the Soviet Union. The Hongkong observers did not think that Red China would intervene militarily in Indochina.
Prime Minister Eisaku Sato told the Upper House budget committee that relations with Peiping would not be sought at the expense of existing friendships, including those with the Republic of China and Korea.
Peiping stepped up the "10 investigations" to uproot anti-Communists and anti-Maoists. People were required to submit reports on family background and history, personal history, education, work experience, immediate family members, friends and relatives, economic situation, membership in organizations, conduct during the "cultural revolution" and personal convictions.
Hongkong sources said Liu Shao-chi was still under house arrest in a Peiping suburb. The same was true, the reports said, of former "defense minister" Peng Teh-huai, former Peiping "mayor" Peng Chen, former Communist Party secretary Teng Hsiao-ping and former party propaganda chief Tao Chu.
February 13
Le Thanh Nghi said in Peiping that he was negotiating for additional economic and military assistance in 1971. Responding to the statement of the North Vietnamese vice premier, Li Hsien-nien, Peiping "vice premier," said the Chinese Communists were watching Indochina developments closely and would uphold obligations to support Hanoi.
Rome accepted Shen Ping, formerly the "charge" in London and also a veteran of Berne and Geneva, as Peiping's "ambassador." The Italians are sending Folco Trabalza, who has been ambassador to Yugoslavia, to Peiping.
February 14
Orders from Mao Tse-tung sent hundreds of thousands of people into the streets of Peiping in a demonstration against the United States. The crowds chanted denunciations of "U.S. imperialism" in connection with the American-South Vietnamese attempt to cut the Ho Chi Minh trail in Laos.
Japan admitted earmarking US$250,000 for support of the private "Memorandum Trade" office in Peiping. The minister of international trade and industry said most of the money would be spent on a trade survey. Foreign Minister Kiichi Aichi said the money was not a regular administrative expenditure and that the government was not involved in the memorandum trade. Aichi said he would visit Peiping if that would serve any useful purpose.
Italy's Foreign Trade Minister Mario Zagari accepted an invitation to visit Peiping at the head of a trade mission.
February 15
Demonstrations against the United States continued in Communist China and North Korea. NCNA said 500,000 marched in Peiping and 200,000 in Nanning in Kwangsi province, which borders North Vietnam.
Reopened in Peiping was the "British Office" which was set afire in 1967 during the "cultural revolution." The Chinese Communists denied responsibility but participated in the restoration. On one side wall, still visible despite efforts of eradication, was the message painted by the demonstrators: "Down with British imperialism."
Japanese and Chinese Communists opened Peiping talks on renewal of the unofficial trade agreement. The Japanese representative was Kaheita Okazaki, president of All-Nippon Airways, a domestic carrier, whose opposite number was Liu Hsi-wen of the "trade ministry." Talks also were under way between Aiichiro Fujiyama of the Liberal Democratic Party and Wang Kuo-chuan, who formerly negotiated with the United States in Warsaw.
February 16
Peiping said an agreement for supplementary economic and military aid to North Vietnam had been signed. No details were given. Chou En-lai and the chief of staff and deputy chief of staff of the PLA were present.
Shipments to North Vietnam were up sharply, Peiping said. Peiping Radio said early February railway traffic through Yunnan exceeded all that in January. Demonstrators rose to a million and a half in mainland cities.
February 17
Hongkong reports said the Chinese Communists were sending 2,000 additional instructors and advisers to help Red forces fighting in Laos but would not dispatch combat forces to Laos.
Prince Norodom Sibanouk left Peiping for the south together with Yeh Chien-ying, former military commander there. He was expected to visit border points through which aid is funneled to North Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.
Peiping told of finding steel, iron and other raw materials that were stockpiled before the "cultural revolution," This was said to have mitigated raw material shortages on the mainland.
Kinkazu Saionji, who returned to Japan after 10 years in Red China, said Peiping would not accept the Canadian formula of recognition. The Canadian compromise left the Taiwan issue up in the air. Saionji said Peiping would insist that the Japanese accept the Red Chinese claim to Taiwan.
February 18
London said Chinese Communist intervention in Indochina was "highly unlikely." The sources pointed out that Peiping has not even hinted it might dispatch "volunteers." However, 4,000 advisers and 10,000 engineers and construction corps personnel were said to be serving in North Vietnam.
Moscow lashed out against the Chinese Reds for sending 90,000 party officials, trade union leaders and senior military leaders to labor camps for "re-education." Pravda and other Communist publications said 1 00 schools were located in "areas where man has not set foot for millennia and where even wild beasts do not live." The camps were said full of "old party members - participants in the armed struggle against the Kuomintang and the Japanese." These are known as "May 7 schools" after the decree of May 7, 1966, prescribing such re-education during the "cultural revolution."
Peiping's 483rd warning to the United States charged intrusion of U.S. warships into waters southeast of Tungshan island in Fulden province and an area south of Tahsingshan, Kwangtung.
Foreign Minister William McMahon told Parliament that the Australian government had been discussing the recognition of the Peiping regime. He said trade was not involved.
February 19
In an interview published in New Delhi, the Dalai Lama said Khampa tribesmen were continuing to hit the Chinese Communists in Tibet wherever the Peiping regime showed weakness. He said Tibetans educated in Red China also were resisting. Escape from Tibet had become harder, he said, and only 600 reached the outside world last year.
Robert McCloskey, the State Department spokesman, said the United States was conducting a comprehensive review of its policies toward Red China, including those of travel, trade and admission to the U.N. He hinted that travel restrictions expiring in March might not be renewed.
Hungarian reports quoted Laotian Premier Souvanna Phouma as saying that Red Chinese "volunteers" might join in fighting against South Vietnamese ground forces and U.S. air forces in Laos.
People's Daily called for an all-out spring harvest effort in 1971 as a first contribution to the first year of the fourth five-year economic plan.
Peiping again refused to permit Soviet embassy personnel to go to Manchuria to decorate the graves of Russian soldiers killed there during World War II. Moscow said the permission had been asked on the occasion of Soviet Army-Navy Day to honor "Soviet soldiers fallen in the struggle against imperialism and reaction for the liberation of China." The China for which the Russians then were fighting was, presumably, the Republic of China, although the U.S,S.R.'s participation in the war was just a few days' long.