March brought the Chinese Communists and the Soviet Union to violent blows and - Peiping said - to the brink of war in the desolate marshes between the province of Heilungkiang and the Soviet Maritime Territory. The fighting was over the disputed island of Chenpao in the Ussuri River. Each side accused the other of aggression.
This was more than another border skirmish. Hundreds of troops were involved and the Russians admitted to 31 killed and 14 wounded in the first battle. Other clashes followed. Peiping complained of Soviet attacks on close to a daily basis.
The propaganda war was bigger than the Ussuri confrontation. Chinese Communists claimed that more than 400 million had marched in demonstrations all over the mainland. The Soviet embassy in Peiping was under a virtual state of siege. Demonstrating Russians threw bottles of ink and stones at the Chinese Communist "embassy" in Moscow.
Peiping was the first to talk of war - with the United States as well as with the Soviet Union. The Russians responded by waving nuclear missiles under Peiping's nose. They didn't threaten to use them immediately but boasted of atomic strength on land, in the skies and on the seas and asked kind of response the Chinese Reds could mount.
Possibly not even Peiping seriously expected the Ussuri battles would lead to all-out conflict. Both the Chinese and Russian Reds had reason to want an incident they could claim was aggression. Mao Tse-tung needed to externalize some of the mainland's conflicts in order to convene the 9th national congress of the Chinese Communist Party and attempt to bury the remains of the CCP and establish a Maoist party. There was also the possibility that the "people's liberation army" may have welcomed the shooting as an opportunity for self-glorification in the face of increasing challenges to its domination of the mainland in the waning days of the "great proletarian cultural revolution".
As for the Russians, they had been trying for more than a year to convene a world Communist congress to read the Chinese Reds out of the international Communist movement. The border fighting may have helped them. In late March, 67 Communist countries agreed to open the meeting in Moscow June 5. The Kremlin not only was accusing Peiping of aggression but also of atrocities against a fellow-socialist country.
The border dispute itself is an old one. At one time, the Ussuri River was entirely within China. The Treaty of Nerchinsk (1689) required Russia to evacuate frontier posts north of the Argun River and withdraw westward behind the Argun River. Tsarist settlements were forced upon China in the 19th century but were superseded in the 20th century. Moscow does not like to be reminded of the Karakhan Declaration of 1920 that declared previous treaties null and void and renounced territory gained under them.
As recently as 1964, Peiping and Moscow undertook negotiations to demarcate the Heilungkiang-Maritime Territory frontier. At that time the Soviet Union admitted that Chenpao and neighboring islands were Chinese. Subsequently the negotiations broke down over Chinese Communist insistence that the 19th century agreements should be denounced as "unequal treaties", although in that case Peiping appeared willing to settle for the Ussuri line with minor readjustments. Russian counterclaims are based on assertions that the Manchus never effectively occupied the area and that the treaties were therefore not "unequal". The Russians also base their territorial claim on prescription (the legal concept of ownership resulting from long possession or occupation).
What mattered much more than the precise location of the border was willingness of the two strongest Communist regimes to resort to force and violence. Peiping and Moscow may not fight a war now and in the area under immediate dispute but they remained on a collision course.
Within the Chinese mainland itself, the 9th CCP congress was eluded Mao Tse-tung through March but was finally convened in April after some two years of postponements. Internal violence, which died down toward the end of last year, was on the increase, especially in Chekiang, Szechwan, Kwangtung, Yunnan and Tibet. Social controls had been reimposed only spasmodically and in some places. In many cases the anti-Maoists remained in control or constituted a serious challenge. In others, the PLA was divided.
Revolutionary committees" are confronted with opposition, factionalism and a growing delicacy of relationship with the PLA. The army has the largest measure of power and could dictate to the committees but hesitates to do so. The result of too much arm- twisting could be an explosion that would destroy Chinese Communism along with Maoism. These days the one consistent propaganda line of the Maoist apparatus in Peiping is the call for unity. The Maoists mean Mao-style unity, of course, but this time they are pleading and not suggesting that the PLA undertake the job the Red Guards failed to complete.
Aside from the continuing power struggle, Peiping faced the problem of what to do about a faltering economy. Industrial recovery did not accompany the late 1968 decline in violence. Now leftists are demanding a new industrial leap forward and the return of the communes. Peasants have risen up to oppose attempts to take away their private plots. Maoists, aware that somehow they must direct the dissipating energies of the "cultural revolution" into production, don't know where to begin. Everything they try seems to run afoul of the determination of the mainland people not 'to be led back to measures and institutions that produced the near collapse of 1959-61.
This is the record of mainland and peripheral events in the period of February 20-March 19:
February 20
Hongkong's government said it would make representations to the Chinese Communists in the detention of 15 persons, including five Americans, and the seizure of three pleasure boats in waters between Hongkong and Macao. Peiping had not yet admitted the detentions.
Hongkong newspapers said that Peiping's decision to call off the Warsaw talks with the United States resulted from turmoil on the Chinese mainland rather than the defection of diplomat Liao Ho-shu from the Netherlands.
Chinese returning to Hongkong from Lunar New Year's visits to the mainland said border guards forced them to leave personal effects behind. Nearly 55,000 Chinese visited the mainland from Hongkong over the holidays. Thousands of others went via Macao.
Canada said that Peiping had expressed interest in talks about the possibility of establishing diplomatic relations.
February 21
Taiwan intelligence sources said 300 anti-Maoists had attacked a Honan military depot in December and escaped with large quantities of weapons and ammunition. The force retreated into the mountains to wage guerrilla warfare against the Communists.
February 24
Peiping's "vice premier" Li Hsien-nien pledged that the Chinese Reds would increase support to Africans opposing "U.S. imperialism and Soviet modern revisionism". He was speaking at a reception for a Guinea delegation.
February 25
"New China News Agency" charged Japan with stepping up "economic infiltration" of Southeast Asia at the instigation of the United States. Investments in Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines were denounced.
February 26
Moscow radio said Chinese Communist industrial output was down 5 per cent in 1968 following a 20 per cent slump in 1967. Coal output was put at 170 million tons compared with 245 million in 1966 and 350 million in 1959.
February 27
Opposition to the transfer of power to workers and peasants was reported on the rise among "people's liberation army" leaders. The PLA also seemed less than eager to have Mao Tse-tung convene the 9th congress of the Chinese Communist Party. An editorial in leading Maoist publications said the army "must grasp the thought of Mao Tse-tung, respect group leadership and combine with the revolutionary masses in contributing to the establishment of leadership bodies".
Intelligence sources said at least 10 workers of a Maoist propaganda team were killed in a clash with Red Guards at Harbin. The violence occurred on the campus of an industrial college when the workers sought to take over and propagate the thought of Mao.
President Richard Nixon and Italian leaders discussed Rome's announced intention to seek diplomatic relations with Peiping. Peiping was reported showing little interest in Italian overtures.
France named Tienne lvtanarch, who supposedly had a key role in arranging the Vietnam peace talks in Paris, as its ambassador to Peiping. As minister plenipotentiary, he has been in charge of Asian and Pacific affairs in the French foreign ministry since 1960.
A British yachtsman held by the Chinese Communists for 10 days was released. He told Hongkong authorities he had seen three yachts seized by the Communists but did not know whereabouts of the 15 persons aboard.
February 28
Peiping charged that the U.S.-Japan mutual security treaty is aimed at the Chinese Communist regime and that the United States bases in the Ryukyus are to be used in attacks against the mainland. "New China News Agency" said the Peiping regime will not permit the Americans to "occupy" Taiwan for long and warned the Japanese to keep out of Taiwan.
Moscow said the Chinese Reds have secret contacts with Washington.
March 1
Clashes between rival factions resulted in damage to railroads in Chekiang province, according to intelligence sources. Industrial and agricultural production was affected.
March 2
Anti-Maoists attacked an army barracks in Fukien province, intelligence sources said, killing or wounding more than 200. Peasants rose up after a demand they give up their private production plots.
A Chinese Communist broadcast complained that Maoists in Kirin province have a negative attitude and are not carrying out their assignments.
Moscow radio predicted convening of the CCP 9th congress no later than April. Mao Tse-tung was said to have held a preparatory meeting in Peiping recently.
March 3
Fighting broke out between Chinese Communist and Soviet Russian forces on an island in the Ussuri River, which forms the border between the U.S.S.R. and Manchuria. Both sides blamed the other for starting the, incident and both filed official protests. Casualties were reported high.
Chinese Communists mounted massive demonstrations outside the Russian embassy in Peiping.
March 4
Moscow said 31 Russian soldiers were killed and many wounded in the Ussuri River fighting. The Soviets accused Peiping of "chauvinistic hysteria". More than 1,400,000 Chinese Reds marched in Peiping demonstrations against the U.S.S.R. Millions of others were marching in cities throughout the mainland. Peiping charged that the U.S.S.R. had instigated the clash in an attempt to get a war started.
Hongkong reports said the border battle started after Soviet defensive missiles shot down several Chinese Communist spy planes.
In Taipei, Deputy Minister of Defense Ma Chi-chuang said the Chinese Communists have 530,000 troops along the border with Russia. Forces of the two Communist regimes have had 28 major clashes in the last two years, he said, in addition to numerous skirmishes.
March 5
Moscow said Chinese Communists killed in the border fighting totaled at least 30. Trud said the engagement lasted four hours and started when Chinese Red troops opened fire on a Russian detachment in training near Damanski (Chenpao) island. The Soviets returned the fire and Chinese Communist machine guns on the southern bank of the frozen river then opened up. Soviet armored cars drove back the Chinese Communist force.
Demonstrations involving hundreds of millions continued on the Chinese mainland, according to "New China News Agency".
March 6
The Soviet embassy in Peiping was surrounded by demonstrators in what amount to a siege.
India charged that more than 250 Chinese Communist-trained Naga rebels had infiltrated Manipur Union territory in recent weeks. Armed with Chinese Communist weapons, they were believed on their way to Nagaland through the jungle hill country of Manipur.
March 7
Peiping charged the Soviet border fighting was part of a Russo-American plot to establish an Asian "holy alliance" against the Chinese Reds. Demonstrating crowds in Peiping numbered between 400,000 and a million daily.
Zambia disclosed that the number of Chinese Communists surveying the route for a railroad between Lusaka in Zambia and the Tanzanian port capital of Dares Salaam exceeds 600. Peiping has offered to finance and build the US$280 million rail link.
March 8
Red China said its forces were "preparing for war" against the Soviet Union. "If the treacherous Soviet revisionist clique dares to continue the invasion, we will terminate all such efforts," said Peiping radio. The broadcast said 260 million people had joined in demonstrations against the Russians. Peiping also urged the people of the world to unite in a "broad united front to bury U.S. imperialism, Soviet revisionism and their like".
Hungarian sources said the Chinese army sought the clash with the Soviet Union as a "telling argument" in the PLA's struggle with civilian leaders.
March 9
Reinforcements have been ordered to the Soviet border by "defense minister" Lin Piao, according to London sources. They will back up 10 divisions al ready in place. The Peiping regime was said to be preventing Russians from leaving the mainland.
Reports of the border fighting in East European countries placed the blame on the Chinese Communists. This line was taken in Poland, Bulgaria and Hungary.
Russian demonstrators hanged Mao Tse-tung in effigy in front of the Chinese Communist "embassy" in Moscow. Another Mao effigy was burned by marching demonstrators.
Hongkong sources said the Chinese Reds had put 5 million men on the alert but had ordered border forces not to provoke further clashes.
Russia accused the Chinese Communists of atrocities in the border fighting. The Russians said the post commander was shot without warning.
Peiping quoted Sinkiang leader Saifudin as charging that Moscow was trying to annex the Sinkiang-Uighur area. He is vice chairman of the Sinkiang "revolutionary committee".
Vice President C.K. Yen told the Legislative Yuan that 20 million young intellectuals have been "sent down" to the countryside by the Peiping regime.
March 10
Red China announced that peasants and militiamen had joined the PLA in patrolling the Soviet frontier. The "hate Russia" campaign went into a second week. Language was as bitter as ever but the size of demonstrations had been reduced.
Anti-Maoists were reported active in Yunnan province. Another report told of 100 students killed or injured in a clash between rival groups in Nanking.
March 11
Peiping registered a new official protest against the Russians and charged the Soviet Union was "digging its own grave" in a "dirty anti-China drama".
Moscow responded with charges that Red China was trying 'to wreck Russia's, position in the world and especially in Eastern Europe.
Hungarian sources said that Peiping "foreign ministry" personnel had refused to accept notes delivered by the Russians. When the Russians declined to take them back, the notes were thrown into the car of the Soviet diplomats.
Hongkong circles said Soviet military units were poised along the border and would react strongly in the event of Chinese Communist attack.
Anti-Soviet demonstrations were resumed in Peiping. Demonstrators included members of the PLA.
Red Chinese fears of National Government attack have led to strengthening of forces in Kwangtung province, the Leichow peninsula and Hainan island. Hongkong reports said naval and air units were dispatched to these areas.
Shensi radio admitted that revisionism has seriously affected the struggle against class enemies.
Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Dayan charged that Peiping is training and arming Arab terrorists and helping plan their raids.
March 12
Moscow claimed that Chinese Communist troops had murdered 19 wounded Russians in the border clash. The Russians said that the Chinese Reds knifed, butted, bayoneted and shot to death the helpless men.
Mongolia accused the Chinese Reds of delaying a Kulun (Ulan Bator)-Peiping train for more than eight hours at the border checkpoint of Erhliang.
Peiping and Moscow accused each other of attempting to manipulate the Japanese.
Moscow said the Red Chinese were trying to export Mao-think to Japan.
March 13
London sources said Peiping instigated the new Communist offensive in South Vietnam. The same sources said the Peiping regime is planning a big diplomatic offensive centered on Vietnam and in opposition to the Soviet.
Russia charged that Mao Tse-tung was trying to destroy the Chinese Communist Party, set up his own dictatorship and make Peiping a "third force" between capitalism and the Russian brand of socialism.
Peiping claimed that Richard Nixon's European trip had given rise to new divisions in the West. The Chinese Communists said the United States and France are struggling for hegemony in Western Europe.
Soviet Ambassador to Japan Gleg Troyanvosky complained that the Soviet embassy in Peiping had been virtually paralyzed by Chinese Communist violence. He reported to Japanese Foreign Minister Kiichi Aichi on the border clash and subsequent developments.
Red China said anti-Soviet demonstrations were continuing and that more than 400 million had participated.
March 14
Hongkong sources asserted that Mao Tse-tung was angry because Lin Piao left the border province of Heilungkiang to return to Peiping. Mao reportedly ordered Lin to return to the "front".
Peiping charged the Soviet Union with continuing aggression along the border on March 4, 5, 7, 10, 11 and 12. The Russians were said to have encroached on Chinese territory.
Peiping also protested against the alleged beating up of a member of the Chinese Communist "embassy" in Moscow.
March 15
Another border battle erupted. The Soviet Union said the Chinese Communists laid down a mortar and artillery barrage, then attacked across the Ussuri River and killed and wounded Russian border guards. Pciping subsequently claimed the Russians were the aggressors.
Chinese Communist border guards opened fire on a group of freedom seekers trying to flee to Hongkong. At least two persons were killed.
March 16
London sources said Red China has withdrawn a large part of its technical troops from North Vietnam. Estimates of the number of Chinese Communists in North Vietnam have ranged from 40,000 to 80,000. The pullout was said to be intended as a warning to Hanoi against lining up with Russia to the exclusion of Peiping's influence and assistance.
Moscow radio said that a Chinese Communist infantry company supported by mortars and artillery had attempted to occupy a Russian-held island in the Ussuri River. The attack was said to have lasted seven hours.
Soviet citizens gathered in front of the Chinese Communist "embassy" in Moscow and shook their fists, whistled and shouted epithets. The demonstrations followed new border clashes. Peiping did not reciprocate.
Peiping published a "Down with the New Tsars" booklet in its anti-Soviet propaganda campaign.
Hongkong reports said that between 30 and 50 intellectuals were fired upon along the border as they tried to escape from the Chinese Communists.
March 17
Moscow told of shelling Chinese Communist positions in the newest outburst of border violence. Peiping was said to have attacked in regimental strength, using mortars and artillery.
Japanese sources said Peiping wanted to settle the border dispute with the Soviet Union through diplomatic channels.
Washington said it could not confirm that Peiping had pulled out labor battalions from North Vietnam, where they were engaged in railroad and highway construction and repair.
President Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines said that a Chinese Communist general slipped into his country in 1966 on a mission to assassinate President Johnson, Nguyen Cao Ky of South Vietnam and himself. He connected the plot with the Huk conspiracy in the Philippines.
March 18
Moscow disclosed casualties of a full colonel and lieutenant colonel in a new outbreak of Ussuri River fighting. Armored vehicles and artillery were used against Chinese Communist human wave assaults, the Soviet sources said.
The chairman of the Japanese Communist Party Central Committee, Sanzo Nosaka, called on Moscow and Peiping to settle their border dispute peacefully.
Foreign Minister Adam Malik of Indonesia predicted continued border clashes but without all-out war between Peiping and Moscow.
Soviet Russia told of new Chinese Communist border attacks under cover of darkness. Mortar and machine-gun fire was reported, together with the movement of trucks bringing up Peiping reinforcements. The Russians told of at least 12 of their soldiers killed in the renewed fighting.
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Charles Yost said there will be no substantial change in the opposition to Peiping in the international organization this year. He said that this would be the case regardless of what Canada and Italy did about Peiping recognition.
Taipei sources said a preparatory meeting for the 9th CCP congress opened in Peiping March 15.
Kwangtung peasants killed more than 50 Chinese Communist troops in a January uprising, according to intelligence reports. The revolt near Canton was said to have been occasioned by forcible requisitioning of food grains by the PLA.
Moscow radio declared that Mao Tse-tung plans to send another 100 million young people from the cities to the countryside. The total of those already rusticated is placed at 30 million. Russian sources also cited new uprisings throughout the mainland, including Yunnan, where guerrilla units were said to have gained 2,000 new freedom fighters recently.
March 19
U.S. Secretary of State Melvin Laird told Congress that the Chinese Communist nuclear threat will be "one of our gravest national security problems of the 1970s". He was testifying in favor of the proposed ABM system.
Peiping radio said "Red sentries" have been stationed in factories to promote the thought of Mao Tse-tung and increase production. The teams are expected to watch both workers and management. Frequent rotation was recommended.