Hongkong reports said Chou En-lai did not meet British undersecretary of Foreign Affairs Anthony Royle because of the Central Committee meeting. Travelers told of mainland reports that Chiang Ching would seek to wrest power from Chou at the "fourth national people's congress," which still has not been scheduled. The congress will elect a replacement for "president" Liu Shao-chi and appoint the "premier" of the "state council." As yet, no heir to Mao is in sight.
Chiang Ching would have difficulty ousting Chou En-lai, who has powerful followers in party, government and armed forces. Her appearance in Canton for the May 1 celebrations was said to be a move to win support from party revolutionary committees and the PLA in South China.
These developments follow the "September Incident" in which "defense minister" Lin Piao and others supposedly were killed in an air crash while attempting to flee to Moscow after failure of his coup against Mao. High ranking military leaders loyal to Lin Piao were then purged. One of two original documents (Material No.2) revealing details of the coup and obtained by Republic of China intelligence sources is excerpted as follows:
"The Struggle of Smashing the Counterrevolutionary Coup of the Lin-Ch'en Anti-Party Clique" (Material No.2) deals primarily with the program of a counterrevolutionary coup, "Outline of '571 Project,' " formulated by the Lin Piao gang. The ad hoc group of the Party Central Committee has investigated the process of formulation of this program for counterrevolutionary coup and the preparations for a counterrevolutionary coup made by the Lin Piao gang in accordance with this program. It is now reported as follows:
(Editor's note: Following is the excerpt of Part I—Explanation by CCP Central.)
After the 2nd Plenary Session of the 9th Central Committee of the CCP, while a campaign for criticism and rectification of Ch'en was conducted along with education on ideological and political lines, Chairman Mao and the Party Central Committee adopted the principle of "learning from the past mistakes to avoid future ones, curing the sickness to save the patient," in seriously criticizing and patiently educating Lin Piao and Huang, Wu, Yeh, Li and Chiu. In December, 1970, the North China Conference was held, which was followed by a thorough reorganization of the Peking Military Region in late January, 1971. This important decision of Chairman Mao and the Party Central uprooted the cornerstone of the Lin-Ch'en anti-party clique, dealing a heavy blow to their plot of staging a counterrevolutionary coup in the capital and in the North China area.
Lin Piao and his gang rejected the Party's education and efforts to save them. They steadfastly refused to repent. Hiding themselves in dark corners, they redoubled their efforts to map out a new counterrevolutionary scheme.
In February, 1971, Lin Piao, Yeh Ch'un and Lin Li-kuo (Lin's wife and son) were in Soochow, where they continued to plan their counterrevolutionary coup. In late February, Lin Piao and Yeh Ch'un sent Lin Li-kuo from Soochow to Shanghai and then to Hangchow to get in touch with their accomplices to study and formulate the counterrevolutionary plan. On March 18, Lin Li-kuo returned to Shanghai from Hangchow together with Yu Hsin-yeh (former deputy department chief of the Office of the Party Committee of the Air Force). On the evening of the same day, Lin Li-kuo told Yu Hsin-yeh and Li Wei-hsin (former deputy chief of the Secretariat, Political Department, 4th Corps, Air Force) who was then already in Shanghai: "According to the present situation, it is necessary to figure out a plan for coup." Lin Li-kuo wanted to have Chou Yu-ch'ih (former deputy chief of the Office of Party Committee, Air Force) sent over immediately from Peking for consultation and said: "I have just told 'the Viscount' (code name for Yeh Ch'un) of our study made in Hangchow. She said that attention must be paid to concealment and security."
On March 20, Chou Yu-ch'ih arrived in Shanghai. Lin Li-kuo called Chou Yu-ch'ih, Yu Hsin-yeh and Li Wei-hsin to a meeting to study and map out a plan for the coup. Lin Li-kuo said: "I have talked this matter over with the Chief (referring to Lin Piao). He said that a plan ought to be worked out first. In accordance with Lin Piao's instructions and the idea obtained from consultations with Ch'en Li-yun in Hangchow, Lin Li-kuo, Yu Hsin-yeh and some others drafted from March 22 through 24, 1971, the program for a counterrevolutionary coup. Using the Chinese wording for "armed uprising," Lin Li-kuo named the program the" 571 Engineering Project."
(Editor's note: Following is the excerpt of Part II—The original text of the "571 Engineering project.")
In the wake of the Second Plenum of the 9th CCP National Congress, the political situation is shaky and the ruling clique is adopting measures beyond reasonable comprehension, the broad masses of peasants have suffered persecution, the economy has bogged down, the actual standard of living of the masses, the grass-root cadres and the troops has declined, and discontentment is on the rise with the result that the people are afraid to speak out and even afraid to show their anger. All these fully indicate that the ruling clique is corrupt, ineffectual and alienated from the masses. A political crisis is brewing and power struggles are under way. China is undergoing a type of political coup by gradual and peaceful evolution. The form of this coup has been constantly used by 'B-52' (a code name for Mao Tse-tung) and is more favorable to those who fight with the pen rather than the gun. For this reason, we must halt this gradual and peaceful evolution with a drastic and violent revolution. On the contrary, if we do not use the "571 Project" to stop the peaceful evolution, no one knows how many heads will fall to the ground and no one knows how many years the Chinese revolution will be behind schedule once they prevail over us.
A new round of power struggle is inevitable. If we do not seize control of the leadership of the revolution, the leadership will fall into the hands of others.
Our Strength—After years of preparations, there is a considerable elevation in the level of the ideological and organizational and military aspects. We have in our possession a certain ideological and material foundation. Throughout the whole country, only this force of ours is rising and gaining strength. Whoever controls the leadership of the revolution will have political power in the future.
In this future political revolution in China, what kind of attitude will be adopted by our "Fleet" ("Fleet" or "combined fleet" is a code name for the counterrevolutionary detachment organized by Lin Piao and his gang).
Seizing control of the leadership of revolution means seizing control of the future political power. The leadership of revolution has fallen historically onto the head of our Fleet. As compared with the "571 Engineering Project" in other countries, we have surpassed them both in preparations and in forces and our chances of success are much greater.
As compared with the October Revolution, our strength is not smaller than that of the Soviet Union at the time. Geographically, there is ample room for maneuvering. The air force has a high mobility. Comparatively speaking, it is easier for the air force to seize the political power of the whole country by carrying out armed uprising. The military regions should carry out regional occupation.
There are two possibilities: Seizure of political power throughout the country or regional occupation.
Our basic forces: The Combined Fleet and the various task fleets (Shanghai, Peking, Canton); the 4th and 5th Corps (backbone forces) controlled by Wang (Wei-kuo), Ch'en (Li-yun) and Chiang (Teng-chiao); the 9th Division and 18th Division; the 21st Tank Regiment; Civil Aviation and the 34th Division.
Employable forces: Domestic-20th Corps and 38th Corps; the Administration Section of Military Commissioner Huang (Yung-sheng); the Scientific Commission of National Defense; Canton, Chengtu, Wuhan, Kiangsu, Tsinan, Foochow, Sinkiang, etc. Foreign (secret negotiations with) the Soviet Union; use of Russian power to press and control other forces both at home and abroad; the temporary nuclear umbrella of the Soviet Union.
The rosy days of B-52 are numbered. He is anxious to complete his posthumous arrangements within the next few years. He is worried about us. It is better to be determined to do something than to wait to be captured with hands tied, to forestall the enemy politically later and militarily first.
Members of the Trotskyite faction, who favor the pen over the gun, are adulterating and distorting Marxist-Leninism to serve their own selfish interests. They substitute Marxist-Leninism with the flowery phrases of false revolution to cheat and hoodwink the Chinese people. Their present theory of continuing revolution is in essence Trotsky's theory of endless revolution. Their revolution is actually directed against the Chinese people, and the armed forces and all dissidents must bear the brunt of their attack. Their socialism is essentially social-fascism, and they have turned the state machinery of China into a monster bent upon slaughter and oppression, and the political life of the party and nation into feudalism and paternalism.
Of course, we cannot deny his position in the history of China's unification, and we have accordingly given him support and a rightful place in the history of revolution. However, he is now abusing the trust and confidence given him by the Chinese people, and he has actually become the Chin Shih-huang (the oppressive First Emperor of the Chin dynasty) of the modern age.
In fulfilling our responsibilities to the Chinese people and the history of China, our patience is limited. He is not a true Marxist- Leninist, but rather the great feudalistic tyrant in Chinese history, a false Marxist-Leninist who practices the ways of Confucius and Mencius and rules with laws of Chin Shih-huang.
Favorable Conditions—The intensification of political contradictions throughout the country and falling support for the dictator have been on the increase.
The ruling clique is internally quite unstable and racked with power struggle, and personal enmity and animosities have reached the boiling point.
The armed forces are persecuted and middle and high-level cadres, who hold the reins of military power, are discontented and unhappy.
A handful of "scholars" are acting tyrannically, making enemies everywhere, losing their minds and overestimating their own abilities.
Cadres who were assailed and attacked in protracted struggles within the party and during the Great Cultural Revolution cannot give vent to their rage.
The peasants are lacking in food and clothing.
The send-down campaign directed against young people and intellectuals is nothing more than labor reform in disguise.
The Red Guards were hoodwinked, manipulated and turned into cannon fodder during the early period of the Cultural Revolution, and became the scapegoats during the latter period.
The sending of cadres to "May 7 Cadre Schools" after losing their jobs in the simplification of government agencies is equivalent to compulsory unemployment.
The freezing of wages of the workers (especially younger workers) is nothing but a different form of exploitation.
In view of the antagonism existing between China and Russia and the Maoist maltreatment of the Russians, our action would obtain the support of the Soviet Union. Most important condition: We have our chief's prestige and power, and the strength of the Combined Fleet.
Favorable Natural Conditions—The broad national territory provides ample space to move around, which, plus the strong mobility of the air force will be advantageous to surprise attack, coordination, shifting around and even retreat.
Difficulties—At present our strength is still insufficiently prepared.
The masses' cult of B-52 is very deep-rooted.
Due to B-52's policy of "divide and rule," contradictions in the military are considerably complicated and difficult to make available a unified strength for us to control.
B-52 rarely appears in public, his movements are mysterious and sly, and the security measures around him are very tight. All these create certain difficulties for our action.
Timing—Both we and the enemy are in an awkward position from which there is no retreat.
At present, the superficial and temporary balance of power cannot last long. The balance in contradictions is temporary and relative while imbalance is absolute.
This is a life-or-death struggle. Once they go on the stage, we shall have to step down and be put in jailor sent to garrisoned area. It is a matter of either we devour them or they devour us.
Two timings in strategy—One is that we are prepared and capable of devouring them. The other is that when we see the enemy opening his mouth to devour us and we are in grave danger, we should be determined to take actions regardless of whether we are fully prepared or not.
Tactical timing and means—When B-52 is in our hands and all the battleships (responsible comrades of the Party Central) of the enemy are in our hands. A form of walking right into a trap by themselves.
To utilize a high-level meeting to round up all the leaders in one net.
First cut off his right hand men, then force B-52 to concede in the form of a palace coup.
Use special methods such as poison gas, germ weapons, bombing, '543' (a new type of secret weapon), automobile accidents, assassination, kidnaping and urban guerrilla teams.
He knows that attacking all at a time means seeking self-destruction. Therefore, during every period, he always plays the trick of winning over one group in power to striking at another.
Today he wins over this one to strike the other, and tomorrow he may win over the other to strike this one.
Today he wins someone over by means of cajolery, and tomorrow he may condemn him to death for a nonexistent crime. Today he treats someone as his guest of honor, tomorrow he may make him his prisoner.
In the history of the past several decades, who among those he built up have been able to escape subsequently the fate of being sentenced by him to political death?
Has any political force been able to work together with him from the beginning to the end? Of his previous secretaries, some committed suicide and others were locked up in prison. The few intimate comrades-in-arms and confidants of his were all sentenced to imprisonment. Even his own son went insane as a result of his persecution.
He has a mania for suspicion and cruelty. His philosophy of maltreating and destroying others is to make them suffer to the end. Once he had chosen a target of maltreatment and destruction, he would keep bleeding him to death. Once he had decided to offend someone, he would never stop halfway. And for this he always laid all the blame on others.
Frankly speaking all those who were close to him and were later brushed aside by him in the manner of a merry-go-round are actually nothing but his scapegoats.
In the past, many people made publicity for B-52 either as a result of historical needs, or for the sake of national unity and solidarity, or for the purpose of resisting foreign aggression, or because of his fascist pressure; or, in the case of the broad masses of the people, because of not having knowledge of the inside story about him.
To all these comrades, we will extend our forgiveness and protection, after making a historical-materialistic analysis of them.
All who have been persecuted by B-52 for nonexistent crimes will be granted political liberation.
Security and Discipline—This project is classified as special top secret. No revelation is permitted to anybody, unless authorized.
Firmly follow the principle that all actions must be made in compliance with directives on bringing into play the "Eda Shima" spirit. (Eda Shima was the location of the Japanese Naval Academy. The Academy trained its cadets by the Japanese militarist Bushido. The so-called "Eda Shima" spirit is, in other words, the fascist Bushido spirit.) Succeed or die.
Anyone who divulges the secret, neglects his duty, wavers in his determination, or betrays our cause shall be severely punished.
These were Chinese mainland and related developments in the May 16-June 15 period:
MAY 16—Chinese Communist "premier" Chou En-lai said the U.S. actions in Vietnam were counter to the spirit of the Shanghai Communique.
Peiping was reported to have extended the equivalent of US$4,400 million in economic aid to developing nations between 1953 and 1971. Aid pledged as of December, 1971, consisted of US$2,900 million in grants and US$1,500 million in loans. North Vietnam topped the list of Communist countries receiving aid. Then came Romania with US$395 million, North Korea with US$330 million and Albania with US$164 million. Non-Communist recipients included Pakistan with US$309 million, Tanzania and Zambia with US$476 million of which US$400 million was for construction of the railway connecting the two countries and Indonesia with US$113 million. Burma, Ceylon, Egypt, Algeria and Ethiopia received US$80 to 90 million each. Peiping has pledged US$60 million to Chile and US$45 million to Malta this year.
Peiping announced appointment of these five new "vice foreign ministers" and two "foreign ministry assistants," including a woman believed to be Mao Tse-tung's niece: Chung Hsi-tung, "ambassador" to Czechoslovakia; Ho Ying, "director of the West Asia and Africa department of the foreign ministry;" Fu Hao, "director—general of the foreign ministry;" Chang Wen-chin, "director of the foreign ministry's Western European and American department;" Wang Hai-jung, believed to be Mao's niece and "deputy head of the protocol department of the foreign ministry;" and Ma Wen-po. Before these appointments there were two "vice foreign ministers;" Chiao Kuan-hua and Han Nien-lung.
In the first four months of 1972, more than 700 refugees from the Chinese mainland were apprehended by Hongkong police. In the same period last year, the number was 460 and for 1970 about 270. For every refugee caught, about four evade capture. Men were aged between 17 and 25 and women between 20 and 25. Most were former Red Guards "sent down to the countryside."
MAY 17—Peiping said it would not be bound by U.N. resolutions adopted before it was seated in the world organization.
Chinese Communist "premier" Chou En-lai said Peiping was ready to normalize relations with Japan if the Japanese government would accept Peiping's principles for the establishment of diplomatic ties. He said he would welcome a new Japanese prime minister to visit Peiping.
Peiping and the Netherlands agreed to raise their diplomatic relations to ambassadorial level. A joint communique was signed by "vice foreign minister" Chiao Kuan-hua and Ambassador of the Netherlands J.J. Derksen.
Peiping showed interest in purchase of Boeing 707s, 727s, 737s and 747s.
Soviet Ambassador to Peiping Vassili Tolstikov left Peiping for Moscow after meeting with Chou En-lai.
Wang Hsi-tsang, 26, a member of the Peiping mission to the United Nations, died in New York, reportedly from the effects of poison.
MAY 18—People's Daily accused the United States of using naval and air bases in Okinawa to escalate the Vietnam war.
MAY 19—An escapee from the Chinese mainland, Miss Yuan Mou-ju, told U.S. House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee hearings on China policy that journalists visiting the Chinese mainland "apparently have been shown only what the rulers want them to see." She said "Peasants live a drab life in communes where they are forced to pay big percentages of their produce in taxes and get nothing in return. Anyone not conforming to what the regime has dictated is labeled a 'class enemy' and is subjected to criticism, torture, liquidation, whipping, jailing, labor reform and capital punishment. There are no lawyers, no right to appeal against a conviction, no freedom of congregation, no freedom of movement, no organized religion and no protection of property security. Families are broken up as husbands and wives are separated at the whim of the state. I saw with my own eyes the Chinese Communist Liberation Army growing opium in Yunnan province near the Burmese border."
MAY 20—Peiping indicated willingness to build a road around Katmandu Valley in Nepal. Peiping had pledged to construct the road in an agreement signed with Nepal in 1960. Instead, the Communists built a 110-mile all-weather road between Katmandu and Pokhara to link Nepal with Tibet.
MAY 21—Peiping's first "ambassador" to Britain is Sung Chih-kuang, 56, of Kwangtung province. He served as "ambassador" to East Germany until recently. Sung was with the Chinese Eighth Route Army in the 1934-35 march to Yenan. He joined the Chinese Communist "foreign ministry" and worked in the "Indo-Chinese affairs department." He was assigned to Paris to open Peiping's first "diplomatic mission" in France after Charles de Gaulle established relations with Peiping in 1964.
MAY 22—Yeh Hsiang-chih, an expert on Chinese Communists affairs, said in Taipei that Mao Tse-tung is using Chou En-lai to place "the barrel of the gun" under Chinese Communist Party control, replacing followers of deposed "defense minister" Lin Piao with new faces and backing Yeh Chien-ying as the top military man in place of Lin Piao. He also reported an increasingly violent power struggle between Mao's wife, Chiang Ching, and Chou En-lai.
U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield said Chou En-lai is concerned about Japanese militarism and that Chinese Communist leaders would not help President Nixon settle the Vietnam war.
The first two Ilyushin-62 airliners delivered to Peiping by the Soviet Union went into service on domestic routes. This was regarded as the first step toward Chinese Communist air service to Europe.
MAY 23—The Ming Pao Wan Pao of Hongkong said an "urgent notice" published last November by the "action committee of the (Red) Chinese People's Liberation Army" addressed to "all comrades" of the PLA called Lin Piao "our great military commander-in-chief comrade Lin Piao" and urged the military to "carry out a real proletarian revolution, to start an armed struggle, and to strike Mao and Chou down so that they can never stand up again."
MAY 24—The U.S. State Department released confidential files of the Marshall mission which had been classified secret for 26 years. The files revealed that Mao Tse-tung told Chou En-lai in early 1946 that he had no intention of visiting Moscow but would like "very much to go to the United States," where he believed he could learn much."
Peiping is voted into the 75-nation Council of the Inter-governmental Maritime Consultative Organization. The Council said the action was in line with a U.N. General Assembly resolution. The Republic of China, a founding member of IMCO, withdrew.
MAY 25—Japan rejected Peiping's claim to the Tiaoyutai islands (Senkakus) included in the reversion agreement covering Okinawa and other islands returned to Japan by the United States.
Peiping charged two Chinese Communist merchant ships, the "Hongqi 152" and "Hongqi 160," were damaged by U.S. aircraft May 6-8 while anchored off Hon Ngu Island, Nghe An province, North Vietnam.
MAY 26—Deputy leader Lu Ting of a Chinese Communist table tennis delegation to Japan asked Kenzo Kono and Masaji Tabata of the Japan Amateur Sports Association to take the initiative in a worldwide campaign to oust the Republic of China from the international sports scene and admit the Chinese Communists.
PLA troops killed at least 11 students in a raid on pro-Nationalist Wah Kiu School in Taipang city. Paoan county, Kwangtung province, following President Chiang Kai-shek's re-election as President of the Republic of China. Students who escaped from the Chinese mainland said in Hongkong that the Kwangtung public security bureau found Chiang Kai-shek posters near the school.
MAY 27—Publisher Chow Ching-wen of the English language Peiping Informers, a fortnightly of Hongkong, said Peiping's ruling apparatus was paralyzed and suffering from an increasingly acute shortage of party cadres. He said: "An earthshaking event may occur on the mainland any time." He said that with Lin Piao purged. Peiping was having difficulty filling the power vacuum. "That's why many old cadres purged during the 'cultural revolution' have been reinstated. However, they are not cooperative and have paralyzed the whole ruling machine."
The Central News Agency reported from Hongkong that a Chinese Communist gunboat with a purged military officer aboard was torpedoed and sunk off Humen at the mouth of the Pearl River in mid-April when it tried to flee to freedom.
MAY 28—Chou En-lai and Liu Hsi-wen met Yohimi Turui, Liberal Democrat of the Lower House of the Japanese Diet. "Vice premier" Li Hsien-nien welcomed a Chilean economic delegation headed by Gonzalo Martner, minister of planning. Shen Chien, a leading member of the "(Red) China-Latin American friendship association," welcomed a group of Mexicans touring the Chinese mainland. The group was led by General Tarcicio Marquez Padella, magistrate of the supreme military tribunal of Mexico.
MAY 29—Three Polish ships unloaded their cargo for North Vietnam at the Chinese port of Chan Gkiang, 300 miles from Haiphong. The cargo was to be transported to Hanoi by rail.
MAY 30—Jade objects d'art from the Chinese mainland today center on socialist art, including such themes as "Chairman Mao goes to Anyang" and "The Red Detachment of Women," according to mainland reports.
MAY 31—Peiping may intensify its diplomatic offensive aimed at enlisting developing countries to resist the United States and the Soviet Union following the U.S.-Soviet summit in Moscow. The summit had not been mentioned in the Chinese mainland press.
JUNE 1—The South China Morning Post of Hongkong reported that Peiping was believed to have massed thousands of junks, each capable of carrying up to 400 tons of cargo, to provide North Vietnamese with a new lifeline for war supplies through narrow channels formed by reefs and islands of the Fai Tsi Long archipelago. The route stretches from Pakhoi, a Chinese port at the top of the Gulf of Tonkin, to the North Vietnamese ports of Hong Gai and Cam Pha, some 100 miles to the southwest.
JUNE 2—The Soviet-U.S. summit in Moscow was reported by a tabloid newspaper, Tsan Kao Hsiao Hsi (Background News) in Peiping but not by Radio Peiping, People's Daily or the New China News Agency. The newspaper is read mainly by party cadres and officials.
JUNE 3—Peiping delivered 60 MIG19 jet fighter-bombers and 100 T-54 and T-59 model tanks to Pakistan. A military aid agreement was signed in February when President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto visited Peiping.
The Sing Tao Jih Pao of Hongkong reported moderates led by Chou En-lai and Mao's wife, Chiang Ching, were locked in a power struggle. A traveler from Canton said Chiang Ching planned to wrest power at the "fourth national people's congress," which has not yet been scheduled.
JUNE 4—NCNA announced the appointment of Wang Kuo-chuan, former "ambassador" to Poland, as "president" of the "(Red) Chinese people's association for friendship with foreign countries."
JUNE 5—Peiping and Greece established diplomatic relations in a communique signed in Tirana, the capital of Albania, by Greek Ambassador to Albania Denis N. Carayannis and Chinese Communist "ambassador" Liu Chen-hua.
Tao Hsi-shen, board chairman of the Central Daily News, told the Kuomintang (Nationalist Party) Central Committee of the Republic of China that the Nixon-Brezhnev summit in Moscow had enabled the Soviets to follow their policy of rapport with the West and containment of the Chinese Communists. He said the Chinese Communists could only surrender or fight a war with Moscow.
JUNE 6—Chinese Communist "acting president" Tung Pi-wu and "premier" Chou En-lai pledged Peiping's "resolute support" in a message to "president" Nguyen Huu Tho of the "South Vietnam national front for liberation" and "president" Hiynh Tan Phat of the "provisional revolutionary government of South Vietnam."
The Philippines will send missions to Peiping and Moscow to explore establishment of diplomatic relations, Manila reports said. Foreign Secretary Carlos P. Romulo will head the mission to Peiping and Philippines presidential executive secretary Alejandro Melchor that to Moscow.
Sing Tao Jih Pao of Hongkong quoted a Chinese traveler from Canton as saying rail and sea shipments of armaments to North Vietnam by Peiping had stopped due to U.S. bombing of railheads in North Vietnam and the mining of North Vietnamese ports. He said unconfirmed reports in Canton indicated Peiping was shipping military supplies to Hanoi by road through Yunnan province and Laos.
Lu Chan, former "director of the Soviet and East European department of the foreign ministry" of Peiping and one of five new "vice foreign ministers," was named chief negotiator in the Peiping-Moscow border talks. He took over from Han Nien-lung, who had headed the Peiping delegation in talks with Leonid Ilyichev since the end of March.
NCNA said Communist forces in South Vietnam had "freed" two million South Vietnamese from Saigon rule during the spring offensive.
The Chartered and the Hongkong and Shanghai banks in Shanghai began to receive letters of credit in U.S. dollars for payment of U.S. purchases at the Canton trade fair.
JUNE 7—Yeh Chien-ying, "vice chairman" of Peiping's military commission, reiterated its "unswerving" stand to give "all-out" support to all the Indo-Chinese peoples against U.S. "aggression." Yeh spoke at a reception given by Nguyen Van Quang, "ambassador" of the "provisional revolutionary government of the Republic of South Vietnam" in Peiping, marking the third anniversary of the founding of PRG.
The Japan-(Red) China Memorandum Liaison Office said Tokyo's Japan-(Red) China Trade Office and the (Red) China-Japan Trade Office each would increase its staff by two members. Peiping will dispatch Hsu Chung-mow, 47, and Lu Teh-hou, 35, to Tokyo and Japan will dispatch Tai Kayama, 41, formerly of the Japanese foreign ministry's Asian affairs bureau, and Tsuyoshi Kawabato, 32, formerly of the Japanese finance ministry's budget bureau.
JUNE 8—New Zealand Foreign Affairs Minister Sir Keith Holyoake said his country had been exploring the possibility of opening a dialogue with Peiping.
Peiping's "minister of fuels and chemicals" Tang Ke, who headed a 16-member delegation to the United Nations Environment Conference in Stockholm, demanded re-examination of the "Declaration on the Human Environment."
Pote Sarasin, vice chairman of Thailand's ruling National Executive Council, said: "We are not opposed to the government in Peiping and welcome exchanges of visits by sports teams and even trade with (Red) China." But "friendly relations cannot be unilateral," he said, and urged Peiping "to cease supporting Communist terrorists with arms and other aid." He said: "We have stopped all polemics against (Red) China to show our friendly attitude."
Richard Dudman of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, visiting Red China for two weeks, quoted Prince Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia as saying Peiping had not opened its seaports to Soviet ships diverted from Haiphong because of unwillingness to allow Russians to see Chinese Communist harbor defenses.
JUNE 9—Pi Chi-lung, one of Peiping's "delegates" to the U.N. Environment Conference in Stockholm, said Red China had raised the question of U.S. "aggression in Indochina."
British Foreign Office Undersecretary Anthony Royle said he had the impression of a "deep (Red) Chinese interest in purchasing the British-French supersonic airliner Concorde and other aircraft." He said he had established a framework for building up more trade, shipping and aviation exchanges between Britain and Peiping.
Peiping became the third largest purchaser of Chilean copper after Japan and West Germany under an agreement to buy 65,000 tons. The Chinese Reds extended US$65 million worth of 20-year interest-free loans to Chile. Chilean Minister of Economy Gonzalo Martner headed an economic mission to Peiping.
JUNE 10—The Japanese Ministry of Justice granted visas to a 12-member Chinese Communist mission to visit shipbuilding yards and confer with Hitachi Shipbuilding and Engineering Company on the purchase of freighters.
CNA reported from Hongkong that more than 100,000 young intellectuals had been banished under slogans of "march toward the prairies" and "dedicate your youth to the development of border areas." They went from Shanghai and Nanking to Inner Mongolia, Singkiang, Kansu, Tibet and Yunnan. Quoting the Liberation Daily in Shanghai and the People's Daily in Peiping, CNA reported that young women intellectuals were forced to raise sheep and hogs and toil in the fields.
JUNE 11—Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Nigel Bowen expressed doubts about the benefits of Australian recognition of Peiping.
People's Daily attacked a Japanese argument that Taiwan is a "lifeline" to Japan, calling it the "out-and-out militarist logic of aggression." Japanese commentator Chu Saito said in the May issue of the Japanese magazine Military Research that Taiwan "has a stranglehold on the maritime trade route which maintains Japan's life... The loss of Taiwan would directly endanger the fate of Japan and the Republic of Korea... If (Red) China is allowed to control Taiwan... the pressure on Japan will suddenly increase..."
JUNE 12—The Chinese Communist delegation to the U.N. Environment Conference walked out when South Vietnamese delegate Le Van Loi attacked Peiping as the real aggressor in Indochina saying: "(Red) China is actually responsible for the war of aggression and of destruction of which South Vietnam has been the victim of more than a decade." He also attacked the Chinese Communists for failing to agree to a total ban on nuclear testing and said Peiping "will go on contaminating the biosphere of the (Southeast Asian) region while using its nuclear tests as a means of political pressure in support of its policy of aggression and expansion in Southeast Asia." He said: "Peiping always urges Hanoi to renew its war efforts and to fight until total victory—in other words until the last North Vietnamese die for the cause of (Red) China." Peiping's chief delegate, Tang Ke, said South Vietnam should not have been allowed to participate in the conference because the Saigon government did not represent the Vietnamese people.
A team of doctors from the Chinese mainland may visit the United States to exchange medical and scientific knowledge at the invitation of Drs. Paul Dudley White of Boston and two others.
Peiping said escalation of U.S. air strikes against North Vietnam close to the Sino-Vietnamese borders was threatening the security of (Red) China and charged that "these frenzied acts of aggression" are not only "new war crimes" against North Vietnam but also "grave provocations" against the Peiping regime.
JUNE 13—Chinese Communist delegates to the U.N. Environment Conference called for a sweeping condemnation of "imperialist destruction and plunder" of the human environment and demanded compensation to the developing nations from the industrial powers for "colonialist and neocolonialist exploitation."
U.S. Senate majority leader Mike Mansfield said Peiping would fight if outsiders got too close to the Chinese mainland borders and that there would be no chance of further progress in U.S.-Peiping relations until the Indochina war was settled. He said Peiping was not concerned about immediate settlement of the Taiwan question. He said the biggest problem for Chinese Communist leaders was the border difficulties with the Soviet Union.
U.S. State Department press officer Charles W. Bray said U.S. bombings in North Vietnam near the Chinese mainland border "are not in any way intended to threaten the security of (Red) China."
F.T. Haner, professor of management at the College of Business and Economics, University of Delaware, said the Chinese Communists presumably see the Tan-Zam Railway connecting Tanzania and Zambia in Eastern Africa as a "means to gain a foothold of influence in the affairs of Central Africa." He noted that the railway, now in its second year of construction, has aroused "fears and speculations" among the governments of Portugal, Rhodesia and South Africa as well as "many American and European businessmen." He said what alarms Tanzania's neighbors, including Portuguese Mozambique is "that everyone of these (5,000 Red Chinese railway building) technicians is reportedly a member of the Communist Chinese Peoples' Liberation Army, whose presence already outnumbers the Tanzanian army of 10,000. It is feared that Communist Chinese recruitment and training of Tanzanians for work on the railroad may lead to the creation of a subject army in that country."
JUNE 14—The second Sino-American Conference on Mainland China opened in San Francisco to study the designs and motives of the Chinese Communists smiling diplomacy and the turmoil on the Chinese mainland. Some 60 Chinese Communist affairs experts from the United States and the Republic of China and 20 observers participated. Host was W. Glenn Campbell, director of the Hoover Institution of war and peace.
Dr. Wu Yuan-li, a professor at the University of San Francisco, told the Joint Economic Committee in Washington that Peiping has the potential to threaten the security of the United States and the world, although it does not yet have the military capability.
Peiping signed an agreement on goods exchange and payments with the Soviet Union for 1972.
CNA reported from Hongkong that a classified circular issued by the Chinese Communist authorities had warned party and military cadres not to let down their guard against the "American imperialists" because of President Nixon's visit to the mainland. The circular also urged cadres to heighten their vigilance against Soviet "revisionists."
The South China Morning Post of Hongkong said the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee had held an urgent meeting to decide who would rule the Chinese mainland after Mao Tse-tung, who was said to be "very sick and possibly dying."
The paper said there must be "another major crisis in the Peiping leadership" because of these indications: the Central Committee meeting was called in haste to discuss something of importance; "Premier" Chou En-lai failed to meet visiting British Undersecretary of State Anthony Royle; reduction by more than half of the number of people from the mainland arriving in Hongkong; and fresh rumors that Mao may be seriously ill.
Mao Tse-tung purged three top commanders in Szechwan in a mop-up following ouster of "defense minister" Lin Piao: Liang Hsing-chu, commandant of the Chengtu military district, and his two deputy commandants, Cheng Chih-shih and Hsieh Cheng-yung. All were Lin Piao supporters charged with conspiring with the "Lin cabal" to turn Chengtu into an "anti-Maoist and counterrevolutionary base."
Liang was appointed commandant of the Chengtu military district in May 1967. Cheng Chih-shih was appointed commander of the XL corps in 1962 and became commandant of the Chengtu garrison command in May, 1967. He was promoted to deputy commandant of the Chengtu military district in November, 1967. Hsieh Cheng-yung was formerly a cadre of Lin Piao's northeast field army and was appointed deputy commandant of the Chengtu military district in November, 1969. He was concurrently secretary of the Chinese Communist Party's Szechwan headquarters.
Hongkong police arrested 265 refugees from the Chinese mainland in the first 13 days of June, a record since the big exodus of 1962. Many young refugees feared they would be drafted for labor on Hainan island.
JUNE 15—Peiping accepted in principle a Washington-Peiping student exchange program. The U.S. government allocated US$560,000 for the project. Some 12 students from the Chinese mainland would attend Harvard University.
Some foreign visitors to the Chinese mainland indicated that significant political events had taken place there recently. Jerome Cohen, professor of international law at Harvard University, received an urgent call in Canton and was unexpectedly flown back to Peiping. Members of the Harvard Club of Chicago, who were to present gifts to Mao Tse-tung, were told at Hangchow that he was not available.
Foreign Minister Shen Chang-huan told the Asian and Pacific Council not to delude itself into believing that Communist aggression can be placated. He said Chinese Communist goals continue to be domination of Asia and the expulsion of American influence from the region. He pointed out that Peiping does not enjoy the moral consent of the people on the Chinese mainland and the Chinese Communist Party itself is in a state of disarray. He said Peiping "is not as strong and stable as it has been made out to be." He said: "Below the surface of seeming stability, there is a boiling and ultimately irrepressible mass of resentments against Mao Tse-tung and his tyrannical rule." He said anti-Communist and anti-Mao uprisings, though rarely reported in the world press, are taking place in many parts of the Chinese mainland.
Travelers from Peiping confirmed that an urgent meeting of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party had been called to discuss the leadership crisis. Topics discussed included identity of a successor to Mao Tse-tung.
Mitsui of Japan announced it would accept Peiping's trade principles barring Japanese companies from trading with the Republics of China and Korea.