Possibly it was no accident. Hunan, which just happens to be the home province of Mao Tse-tung, became the first of the Chinese Communists' 29 principal administrative areas to establish a new committee in the arduous, long-drawn-out process of "Communist Party rebuilding."
Peiping said the committee was chosen at a provincial party congress in Changsha, the capital of Hunan, from November 24 to December 4. Announcement was delayed until December 15, presumably to give the central authority time to check every name and review every action of the 920 peasants, workers, soldiers, bureaucrats, Red Guards, intellectuals, members of minorities and women who attended the meeting.
The committee's birth was a first but still hesitant step toward convening the long-heralded "national people's congress." There is a long way yet to go. It had taken 20 months (from the Ninth Communist Party Congress in April of 1969) to produce this one committee. Even so, there were hints, that party rebuilding was far from over in Hunan and that the regime had given the green light for committee formation only as a kind of experiment.
Peiping confessed that the three top leaders had been given advance blessing by the highest authority. The First Secretary is Hua Kuo-feng, a long-time Hunan cadre and former "vice governor." He kept the No.2 slot after the "revolutionary committee" took over the province during the "cultural revolution." He is also a member of the Central Committee of the CCP.
But if the First Secretary is a civilian, he has members of the dominant "people's liberation army" breathing down his neck from the No.2 and 3 positions. Pu Chan-ya ranks second. He is the political commissar of the PLA in Hunan but was moved there from Kwangtung, where he was a member of the "revolutionary committee" and apparently the trusted right hand of Huang Yung-sheng, the chairman, who was called to Peiping to become PLA chief of staff. Huang's star is conceded to 'be rising faster than any other in the Chinese Communist hierarchy at the present time. Pu has headed a local "revolutionary committee" and presumably is in place to make sure that Hunan goes down the straight and narrow Maoist path.
The third-ranking party member is Yang Ta-yi, military commander for Hunan and a major general. He was send to the province during the "cultural revolution" and promoted in March of 1969. Other members of the committee were not immediately announced. However, Peiping said membership represented a "three-in-one combination of old, middle-aged and young people." The three-in-one concept nominally describes a leadership group of bureaucratic cadres, workers (mostly former "revolutionary rebels") and PLA personnel with the latter dominant. Progressive elements (Red Guards) were not mentioned and their importance presumably has been further downgraded. The addition of age groups was something new in the CCP lexicon and seemed to reflect an effort to augment unity and provide a basis of consensus for progressives and the more conservative elements of the PLA. There seemed no doubt that the army remained firmly in control.
The Chinese Communists admitted that plenty of party work remains to be done in Hunan. Several counties and lower-level units have not yet established party branches. This would seem to indicate, however, that other provinces may be permitted to set up their committees before grass-roots rebuilding has been completed. Mao may need the "people's congress" so badly that he is prepared to take a chance on summoning it before the decisions of the 1969 party congress have been carried out.
With the exception of Hunan, news from the mainland was prosaic. Boasting of economic advances continued. The diplomatic "smiling offensive" was in progress. A campaign to reinforce sagging enthusiasm for Mao thought study was undertaken. As usual, cadres were called upon to tell "magic bullet" stories of how Mao thought had helped them to overcome impossible difficulties. And also as usual, the tales were as vague as ever about how much progress, if any, was actually made.
Efforts continued in the campaign to get technical education moving again but advance was small. Most "higher education" was conducted in the fields and factories, rather than classrooms and laboratories, and teachers still tended to be workers, PLA people and others of dubious scientific attainments. Despite all the talk about bringing professional teachers back into the fold while watching them closely, the regime seemed to remain deathly afraid of intellectuals and intellectualism.
This is the record of mainland and peripheral events for the period from November 20 through December 19:
November 20
Admiral John S. McCain Jr. said rapprochement between Peiping and Moscow would imperil U.S. interests in Asia. The commander of U.S. Forces Pacific said in Honolulu that "we will see Russia and (Red) China grow more closely together." "We can thank our lucky stars," he added, "that the four Asian Communist powers (Russia, Red China, North Korea and North Vietnam) don't get along very well." Admiral McCain said the Chinese Communists want to take over the Indochina and Korean peninsulas.
Former French Premier Maurice Couve de Murville, reporting on his visit to mainland China, said tensions between Peiping and Moscow have been relaxed but that any real settlement of differences will require favorable circumstances and take "a very long time."
Chinese Communis:s freed 62-year-old Ushio Shimoyama, a Japanese sea captain detained since March. He had been arrested in Shanghai on unannounced charges. Shimoyama crossed the border at Hongkong and left for Japan by plane the same day.
November 21
Cambodia's deposed Prince Sihanouk arrived in Tihwa (Urumchi), on a tour of Northwest China. "New China News Agency" said that Sihanouk and his wife had flown to Tihwa from Sian, the capital of Shensi. Few foreigners have been permitted to visit Sinkiang.
Cuba announced its agreement to the appointment of Cheng Te-chuan as Peiping's new "ambassador," succeeding Wang Yu-ping, who departed Havana more than three years ago.
November 22
"New China News Agency" said U.S. bombings of North Vietnam indicated plans to extend the war in Indochina. Peiping claimed that Hanoi had a "sacred right" to shoot down intruding U.S. planes.
Nixon administration officials said they expected early resumption of Washington-Peiping talks at the ambassadorial level. The last meeting in Warsaw was held February 20.
Liu Hsin-chuang arrived in Moscow as the first Chinese Communist "ambassador" since 1966. Russian Ambassador Vasily Tolstikov arrived in Peiping October 9. Liu is a former "vice minister of foreign affairs."
Japanese sources said Chinese mainland trade may reach US$4,000 million in 1970 for a new record. The figure given for the first half of the year was US$1,502.4 million, an increase of 18 per cent over the same period in 1969.
November 23
Tass announced that the Soviet Union and Peiping had signed a trade agreement. "New China News Agency" said the signing took place in Moscow. No details were announced.
Hongkong sources said a campaign to wipe out corruption and theft of public property had been undertaken in the Canton area of Kwangtung. A Canton paper was quoted as saying that "class enemies" were trying to sabotage socialism and revive capitalism.
Washington observers said Peiping can be expected to test two 5,000-mile missiles next year. The Chinese Communists were said to be building a control station in Zanzibar.
November 24
Moscow radio accused the Chinese Communists of attempting to sabotage the slowly improving relations between the two regimes. The broadcast claimed Peiping had tried to split the socialist world from the inside by supporting "renegades," an apparent reference to Albania.
Reports in Hongkong said Peiping had ordered a mass transfer of "people's liberation army" officials in Canton on charges of taking bribes from refugees attempting to flee to Hongkong. Some PLA members were said to have been executed, while others were sent to labor reform camps.
Students who broke out of a detention camp in Canton were still at large, according to reports reaching Hongkong. About 600 young people were said to have rioted at the camp in October after they were sentenced to labor reform for returning to Canton from the countryside. A few of the fugitives escaped to Hongkong.
Peiping's 477th "serious warning" to the United States charged that an American plane flew over Yunghsing Island of the Hsisha group off Kwangtung.
November 25
Peiping again pledged "all-out support" of North Vietnam. "New China News Agency" distributed a statement charging the United States with "new and monstrous crimes" in Vietnam.
Prime Minister Eisaku Sato said the Japanese Diet would consider the China problem from the standpoint "of respecting international trust, protecting national interests and contributing to the easing of tensions in the Far East while taking into consideration the trends in the current United Nations General Assembly and the future international situation."
November 26
Taipei sources said the Chinese Communists bad expelled, killed or imprisoned more than 6,000 Roman Catholic clergy since 1949. Release of American Bishop James D. Walsb last July was, the sources said, a Communist attempt to convince appeasement-minded people abroad that the Peiping regime is becoming more peacefully inclined.
November 27
Hongkong reports said anti-Communist pamphlets wishing President Chiang Kai-sbek long life had been found in Hui Yang county. Militia were said to have searched the area and to have arrested several score young people.
Figures for the first 10 months of 1970 showed a decline in British trade with mainland China. Exports were down from US$97.4 million to US$89 million and imports from US$76 million to US$65 million.
November 28
Chinese Communist newspapers have begun a campaign of denunciation against PLA and party cadres who are "conceited and complacent." An article in People's Daily said too many cadres think the revolution has reached a peak and regard themselves as meritorious officials. A larger dose of Mao thought is recommended as the cure for such faults.
As technical universities reopen on the mainland, regular campuses are being spurned in favor of field and factory classrooms. Courses have been shortened to two or three years and study is closely associated with farms, factories and mines. Most academically based schools are still closed.
Peiping staged a mass rally to celebrate the "liberation" of Albania. "Vice Premier" Li Hsien-nien said "a once poor and backward mountain country in Europe has become an advanced and staunch fortress of socialism."
Japan is prepared to open ambassadorial contacts with the Chinese Communists "any place, any time," Prime Minister Eisaku Sato told the House of Councillors, but added that this does not imply recognition.
November 29
Intelligence from the mainland indicated a strong presence of military cadres in slowly emerging Communist Party organs of all levels. The party is being rebuilt on a basis of the three-way alliance concept: military personnel, former party officials and new leaders of the masses. Of the 21 full members of the Politburo, 12 are military. Of the 170 full members of the Central Committee, about half are from the PLA. Party committees are emerging at the local level but have not yet appeared at special district or provincial levels.
Peiping was reported to have warned Hongkong authorities not to permit Roman Catholic clergy from the Republic of China to enter the British crown colony during the visit of Pope Paul VI December 6.
November 30
"Premier" Chou En-lai charged that "Portuguese colonialists supported by U.S. imperialism" had attacked Guinea. He said the United States was making '''desperate attacks" in a vain bid to retrieve lost positions.
Diplomatic representatives of Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, "Mongolia," Poland and East Germany were reported to have walked out of a Peiping reception honoring Albania. This was in protest against the Albanian ambassador's remarks about Soviet revisionism. The U.S.S.R., which does not have diplomatic relations with Albania, did not attend.
A Chinese Communist gunboat stopped a Macao coastal steamer ferrying ice to the Hongkong fishing fleet, arrested the crew and towed the vessel up the Pearl River toward Canton.
December 1
Ethiopia recognized the Peiping regime following a four-day secret visit to Addis Ababa by Yang Shou-cheng. The United States expressed regret at the Ethiopian decision. Republic of China Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Yang Hsi-kun said in Washington that there was no link between Ethiopian recognition and ROC relations with other African countries.
Several hundred prisoners were reported to have escaped from a labor camp in Kwangtung and to be heading for the Hongkong border. The escapees were said to be mostly those sentenced to reform because of previous attempts to reach Hongkong.
Chinese Communists announced new regulations for the recently resumed parcel post service from Hongkong to the mainland. Value is not to exceed a little less than US$3.50 per parcel and no family may receive more than about US$17 worth of parcels annually. The value is assessed by the Communist authorities, not by the senders.
December 2
Belgium was reported in Tokyo to have opened recognition talks with the Chinese Communists. Foreign Minister Kiichi Aichi said Japan was contemplating a "new formula" with regard to the Chinese representation issue.
Moscow lashed out at Communist China for increasing its trade with capitalist nations. The Russians said four-fifths of Peiping's trade was outside the Communist bloc.
Reports from Beirut said the Chinese Communists had suffered reverses in the Middle East since the death of President Nasser. Countries mentioned were Egypt, Libya, Sudan, Iraq, South Yemen and Syria.
December 3
Escapees reaching Hongkong from Canton said authorities there were starting a new purge aimed at eliminating "bad elements" and remnants of the "Liu Shao-chi clique." The "Ten Investigations and Ten Interrogations Movement" was reaching into every family and was expected to result in the reclassification of many formerly classified as "politically unblemished."
Some young people from Hongkong were among those chosen by the Communists to attend newly reopened universities in Kwangtung along with the children of peasants and workers. Presumably those from Hongkong were already under control of the Communists, although parents were in Hongkong.
U.S. Secretary of State William Rogers told the North Atlantic Council of Foreign Ministers that further withdrawals of recognition from the Republic of China would threaten the stability of Asia. He said that expulsion of the Republic of China from the United Nations in favor of Peiping would violate the very concept of universality upon which the Chinese Communists' backers stand.
December 4
Constitutional experts meeting in Taipei said that mainland strife will be intensified if the Chinese Communists attempt to put the Maoist "draft constitution" into effect. The more than 40 scholars, judges, legislators and teachers agreed that the proposed new law contains contradictions demonstrating confusion and disunity within the Communist Party.
December 5
Burma returned an ambassador to Peiping, the first since 1967. U Thein Maung met with Chou En-lai. Peiping has not named an envoy to Rangoon.
December 6
Peiping entered the Republic of China-Japan dispute over islands north of Taiwan and southwest of Okinawa. The Chinese Communists asserted claim to the Chienku group of five uninhabited islands: Tiaoyu, Huangwei, Chihwei, Nanbsiao and Peihsiao. Known as the Senkakus in Japanese, these islets lie astride what is believed to be petroleum deposits under the East China Sea.
The Chinese Communists said they had sent two medical teams to Guinea to help treat those wounded in what the Guineans claimed was a Portuguese attempt to invade the country.
December 7
Members of the Japanese Diet announced plans to establish a group to promote closer relations with Peiping. Of the 741 members of Japan's two Houses, 323 said they would join, including 89 members of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party. The chairmanship supposedly is slated for Aichiro Fujiyama, an LDP member.
A Japanese trade office promoting relations with Peiping was reported planning to drop members of the Liberal Democratic Party from its next negotiating team because of Prime Minister Eisaku Sato's opposition to political relations with the Chinese Reds.
President Luis Echeverria said the Mexican Foreign Ministry will study possible establishment of diplomatic relations with Red China. The chief executive said he had reached no conclusions of his own.
People's Daily claimed advances in shipbuilding and said the Chinese Communists must have a powerful navy and large merchant marine. Launching of eight small vessels has been reported since October of 1969: five cargo carriers, a tanker, a dredger and an ice-breaker. Six of the eight were from Shanghai yards and the largest apparently was the tanker of 15,000 tons. Lloyds Register of Shipping reported the Chinese Com munist merchant fleet had increased from 791,893 to 867,994 gross tons in the last year.
December 8
Reports from the mainland said Canton authorities were looking for a mysterious radio station, the "Voice of Liberation," which has been broadcasting anti-Communist propaganda daily. The station attacks Mao Tse-tung and Lin Piao as traitors. The United States and Republic of China are occasionally criticized.
The British Foreign Office said the continuing detention of Dennis Johnston, former manager of the Shanghai branch of the Chartered Bank, was an obstacle to improve relations with Peiping. The Chinese Communists have held him since August of 1968. Four other Britons are held on the mainland.
People's Daily described President Nixon as "a desperate gambler" and said "the more he loses, the higher are his stakes; the more he plays, the more heavily he loses, until he loses everything" in Vietnam.
December 9
Moscow Radio charged the United States was trying to approach Red China through Canada and Italy. The Russians said Ottawa and Rome recognized the Chinese Communists with Washington's blessing as part of President Nixon's strategy. "President Nixon could have dissuaded Ottawa from recognizing Peiping if he had really wanted to," the broadcast said.
Prime Minister Eisaku Sato was reported studying proposals to "create an international atmosphere" in which both Taipei and Peiping could be seated at the United Nations.
Australian sources said that Peiping orders for about 90 million bushels of wheat are expected during the coming 10 months.
Peiping promoted its "pig for every household" movement by conferring the title of "Model Pig Tender"' on a member of an armored unit of the PLA. The award was given by the Central Military Committee of the Chinese Communist Party for perfecting a yeast to be used in preparing a fermented pig feed that economizes on grain.
December 10
Edgar Snow, an American writer who is persona grata to the Chinese Communists, said Chou En-lai told him that the Republic of China would have to be expelled from the United Nations if Peiping were to become a member. An article by Snow, who interviewed Chou in Peiping, appeared in the Milan weekly Epoca. Chou was quoting as saying that regardless of any negotiations with the United States, Taiwan was an internal question for the Chinese and only the Chinese could settle it.
December 11
Intelligence information reaching Taipei suggested the Chinese Communists may have established bases in northeastern Khmer to assist the Viet Congo The spokesman of the Ministry of National Defense said Peiping is increasing aid to the Communists of Indo-china.
December 12
Hsueh Yu-chi, former Chinese ambassador to Canada, said Ottawa's recognition of the Chinese Communists had opened the door for Peiping's infiltration of the United States. Arriving in Taipei from New York, Hsueh said Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and other Canadian leftists had brought about the recognition. Ninety per cent of overseas Chinese in Canada are loyal to the Republic of China, he said.
December 13
Chinese Communists have built only about 1,000 miles of new railroad in the last 10 years, according to estimates in Hongkong. The rail network is believed total 24,000 miles, much of it in existence when the Communists usurped power in 1949. Most of the equipment is of pre-Communist vintage. The Communists recently boasted that one 24-year-old locomotive has covered 1,250,000 miles in the last 24 years.
Paris reported increasing Chinese Communist activity there. A high-level mission is expected in the spring. Visitors may include Chou En-lai and Li Hsien-nien, a "deputy premier."
Twenty-six refugees from Tung Kun county in Kwangtung reached Hongkong after rowing for three days and nights in biting cold. They had no food and told of near-starvation conditions in their village.
December 14
Taipei sources said Mao Tse-tung is trying to pave the way for Lin Piao's smooth accession to power but that Mao still faces many obstacles. This effort was said to account for the expulsion from the power group of such potential Lin rivals as Chen Yi, Hsu Hsiang-chien, Nieh lung-chen and Li Fu-chun. Lin's supporters are being moved into cabinet posts in the streamlined "state council."
Peiping radio broadcast a new manifesto on the Vietnam war, asserting the United States must withdraw unconditionally before there is any possibility of peace.
Members of a Chilean "friendship mission' were reported to have visited Shanghai, Nanking and Hangchow.
Hongkong Roman Catholic sources said two priests had been permitted to enter the mainland from Pakistan, had said mass in Canton and then departed by way of Hongkong.
Prime Minister Eisaku Sato said a "state of war, legally speaking, exists between Japan and mainland China because Peiping has not signed a peace treaty." He made the statement to the Diet. Previously, Japan has held that the Sino-Japanese war was ended by the peace treaty signed with the Republic of China.
Japan's Deputy Foreign Minister Shinsaku Hogen met with Ambassador to the Republic of China Osamu Itagaki and Hongkong Consul-General Akira Okada in Hongkong to discuss China policy and the United Nations.
December 15
Peiping announced the establishment of a Communist Party committee in Hunan province, the first since the start of party rebuilding in the wake of the "cultural revolution." "New China News Agency" said the committee of 75 members and 15 alternates was elected by a provincial party congress held in Changsha, the capital, from November 24 to December 4.
Japanese diplomats meeting in Hongkong agreed they could make no specific recommendations of China policy changes and that it would be necessary to "sit and wait." They were said to believe that if the Republic of China were expelled from the United Nations and Peiping seated, the Chinese Communists would launch a "police action" in an attempt to seize Taiwan.
Prime Minister Sato said that if "one China" were attained, the so-called "Formosa clause" in the U.S.-Japanese communique would be nullified. The "Formosa clause" involved agreement of Sato and President Nixon that the maintenance of peace and security in the Taiwan area is vital to the security of Japan.
Kwangtung fishermen, describing their escape from the mainland in a stolen junk, said they fought off a Red Guard, evaded a PLA patrol and hid from scores of other junks in the busy Deep Bay traffic.
December 16
Peiping named Pei Chien-tsang, a careerist with rank of counselor, to succeed Ma Chia-chun as charge d'affaires in London. Ma had been in place for four years and engaged in shouting matches at the Foreign Office during the "cultural revolution." Pei has served in Burma.
Liu Hsin-chuan, the Chinese Communists' new "ambassador" to the Soviet Union, was a supporter of Liu Shao-chi at the outset of the "cultural revolution," according to Japanese sources. He was denounced by students of the Peiping Institute of Foreign Languages and disappeared from public view for three years. Japanese students of mainland affairs believe he was rescued by Chou En-lai. He turned up at the 1970 May Day celebration. His age and home province are not known, the Japanese said. In 1959 he was a garrison commander in Huiyang City near Canton. His rank is that of major general. In 1964 he became one of six "vice ministers of foreign affairs."
December 17
Reports from India said Lhasa gives the appearance of a city under siege. The Chinese Communists were reported locked in combat with a powerful secret resistance group called the "Organization for the Struggle of Tibet's Independence." Nine young people were tortured and executed in October, the Indian sources said, and others sent to labor reform camps.
December 18
Malaysian Prime Minister Tun Abdul Razak called for the establishment of a Southeast Asian network to check Chinese Communist subversion. He was visiting Indonesia.
Madame Soong Ching-ling, one of the two "vice chairmen" of Peiping regime, turned up in public for the first time in three years. She accepted the credentials of the new Bulgarian ambassador. Her previous appearance was on September 23, 1967, when she accepted the credentials of the ambassador from Mauritania.
December 19
Chinese Communist affairs sources in Taipei said the Peiping regime is smuggling between US$500 million and $800 million worth of narcotics into the free world annually.
Peiping welcomed a delegation of the Viet Cong for observances marking the 10th anniversary of the "National Liberation Front," political arm of the Communists in South Vietnam. Huang Yung-sheng, PLA chief of staff, headed the welcoming group. Hundreds of thousands were turned out to line the streets despite bitterly cold weather.