The South China Morning Post of Hongkong said September 5: "All predictions concerning (Red) China's nuclear ballistic missile development programme have so far failed to materialise. In 1965, former U.S. Defence Secretary, Mr. McNamara, said (Red) China might deploy MRBMs (medium-range missiles) by 1967 and ICBMs (inter-continental missiles) by 1975. Later, various American, British, Japanese, Russian and other non-Chinese sources predicted a (Red) Chinese missile test in the winter of 1967-68 and deployment of ICBMs by 1975. The nearest (Red) China has come to fulfilling these forecasts was the 'guided missile nuclear weapon' test which Peking conducted in October, 1967. The range of this device was not disclosed. There have been many guesses but the reluctance of (Red) China to give any figure tends to cast doubts on some of the high estimates advanced by observers. This test was in addition to the six atomic and hydrogen devices which had been successfully exploded. A seventh, detected by Western monitoring establishments, was on December 24, 1967, but (Red) China's unexplained silence on this test suggested it was a failure.
"...What apparently has retarded her progress is the cultural revolution. Marshal Nieh Jung-chen, Chairman of the Scientific and Technological Commission who is better known as the 'father of (Red) China's atomic bomb' and some of his associates had been frequently criticised for their 'bourgeois' thinking. Indeed, he himself has disclosed 'a struggle between the proletarian and bourgeois lines' in the Commission. Latest Peking reports indicate that he and (Red) China's foremost scientist, Dr. Chien Hsueh-sen, have been rehabilitated and some stability restored in the Commission and its departments. However, the substantial reduction in personnel, ordered by Mr. Chou En-lai, could further hold up progress. And if the working class which is to have the leading role in 'all fields' is indeed permitted to assume leadership over the nuclear development programme it could cause further difficulties." (Partial text)
Baltimore Sun - Obsolete air force
The Baltimore Sun said August 25: "A world authority on military air power believes (Red) China's Air Force, despite its size, is obsolete and unlikely to catch up with American and Soviet technology in the foreseeable future.
"In his new book 'Communist Chinese Air Power,' Richard M. Bueschel, Far Eastern editor of the Fair Heritage magazine, calls (Red) Chinese air strength a 'hodge-podge' - even though it ranks third largest in the world..
"Mr. Bueschel estimates the combined (Red) Chinese Air and Naval air strength at 115,000 men and 3,000 aircraft - a mixture of models mostly from Russia and home-made copies of United States and Japanese aircraft, acquired through 'accidents of history.'
"He says the mixture and the age of the planes produce continuous problems of air training, supply and operation. (Red) China, he says, now faces an 'enormous need' for new equipment.
"Because the Red Guard upheaval disrupted a five-year air modernization plan, Mr. Bueschel estimates it will take (Red) China several years to retrain and reequip its air forces. He adds it is entirely possible that by the time the (Red) Chinese catch up with their adversaries, the whole concept of air power, as well as corresponding aircraft forms and uses, will have greatly changed.
"Mr. Bueschel believes the (Red) Chinese are now concentrating on sophisticated MIG series rather than original designs.
"He also believes (Red) Chinese military agents operating from neutral Austria and Switzerland in 1966 and 1967 offered experienced German aircraft designers, engineers and technical personnel 'top money and contract guarantees' to work in (Red) China.
"Last year (Red) China added 200 planes, mostly MIG-17's and MIG-19's. These are likely to spearhead the (Red) Chinese fighter force for many years, Mr. Bueschel adds.
"The author writes that 'while (Red) Chinese production may set domestic records in coming years, the result will be an actually secondrate air force with the false appearance of being a world leader based on the number of aircraft in service.'" (Partial text)
Sacramento Bee - Who has the power?
The Sacramento Bee of Sacramento, Calif., said September 3: "August saw the 41st anniversary of the founding of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) by the Chinese Communists. The occasion has been one for lauding the virtues of the soldier in the new (?) China - and, more significantly, for perhaps unwitting confirmation of what many analysts already have said is happening today in that vast and populous land.
"Outsiders are probably as tired as many a Chinese (on the mainland) of the fuguelike reprise of the triumphs of the great proletarian cultural revolution, of the uplifting effects of the thoughts of the Chairman himself, of the artistic (and political) innovations of Mrs. Mao, of the persistent machinations of '(Red) China's Khrushchev' (President Liu Shao-chi), of the reports of violence in this city or that - and of the grim evidence of killings that comes floating down the Pearl River estuary toward Hong Kong. What does it all add up to?
"We know that after Chairman Mao had apparently failed (with his great proletarian cultural revolution) to establish a new Utopia and Utopian man in (Red) China, the PLA was brought center-stage to help pick up the pieces in a face-saving compromise. This was to be done from early 1967 onward by the setting up of 'three way' committees across the length and breadth of the land. On these committees would sit representatives of: (1) the PLA, (2) the Communist Party administration, and (3) the revolutionaries - of the Red Guard type - originally conjured up by the Chairman to purge and revitalize a (Red) China which he thought was slipping back toward corrupt and selfish lethargy.
"More than 18 months have passed; but there remain three provinces and two autonomous regions without their committees. It would appear that from the start the difficulties in setting up the committees have stemmed either from fierce local struggles about who should dominate them or from PLA reluctance to share its de facto control of an area with anybody else.
"Adding to the confusion of the outsider - and perhaps of the insider - has been the profession of every contender for power or influence to be the true defender of the thoughts of Chairman Mao. As a symbol, he is virtually sacrosanct and apparently indispensable. But as an effective political operator in the current contusion, his skill and influence are manifestly far from what they were.
"Manifestly, then, there has been a slippage of Peking's central administrative and political control back toward the quasi-anarchy which permitted warlord ism earlier in the century. The leadership in the capital as much as admitted this in a leading article in the official People's Daily eight days ago. It said: 'The so-called theory of many centers is a reactionary theory... If every department and unit wanted to be a center and there were to be many centers in the country, then there would be no center.'
"The central leadership's urgent need is to restore its unchallenged authority. If it succeeds in so doing, Chairman Mao - or his thoughts - will almost certainly get the credit. But just who in fact will be exercising power is a different question altogether." (Full text)
Seattle Times - Hazardous existence
The Seattle Times published September 2 a report by Robert S. Elegant from Hongkong: "Daily life in Communist China is a constant, hazardous exploration. There are no charts, and a misstep can mean death.
"Silence might appear to be the best survival kit for the ordinary Chinese amid the 'raging storms and devastating winds' of Chairman Mao Tse-tung's great proletarian cultural revolution.
"Anywhere else, it is hard to get into trouble by saying nothing. But in Communist China, silence is often interpreted as lack of enthusiasm for the just cause.
"You can't really go wrong, it would seem, by shouting with the crowds:
"'Long life, long life, long, long, long life to Chairman Mao!'
"But too much vehemence can mean identification as a 'sneaking worm who shouts slogans to conceal his true opposition to the thoughts of Mao Tse-tung!'
"If silence and shouting are alike hazardous, what about song? A middle-aged matron in Shanghai recently discovered that song, too, has its hazards.
"Placidly riding the Route 25 trolley bus, she was lulling her small daughter with an old song called 'Darling.' Behind her, Tuan Tung-hung, a teacher of the Aikuo (patriot) Primary School, rose up in anger, crying:
"'How can you sing such a song? Don't you know what it is? Such songs should no longer be heard.'
"The mother protested that she was merely calming her child.
"But the conductor, king of his small domain, announced his agreement with the teacher. A song like 'Darling,' he said, was a relic of the evil old past.
"'Why couldn't she sing a wholesome song like 'Long, Long Life and Greetings to Chairman Mao?' asked another passenger.
"As the teacher alighted, he heard another passenger say: 'The venerable Chairman Mao teaches us: 'Never forget the class struggle.'
Tuan Tung-hung reported the incident to the hyper-Maoist, Shanghai newspaper, Wen-Hui Pao. The editor splashed the example of the 'class struggle in everyday life.' He pointed out that the song 'Darling' was a 'poisonous weed': a species of flora which apparently threatens to choke the (Red) Chinese landscape.
"It is also evil to indulge one's own tastes in either food or reading matter, a letter noted in the same issue of Wen-Hui Pao. The 'Revolutionary Workers' of the East Glass Works bitterly attacked the assertion that Chinese should be permitted to exercise their own preferences for pork rather than chicken or opera rather then political playlets.
"'Taste,' they concluded, 'is a very big poisonous weed!'
"Taste can also be a dangerous luxury, as a 50-year-old saleswoman in a Canton food shop recently discovered. When an enthusiastic teenager showed her his latest Mao button and solicited her admiration, she answered:
"'Hell! What's so pretty about that?'
"A few days later, a delegation of 20 activists called upon her. They beat her with sticks and belts, knocking her front teeth out. While she lay wounded, no one dared bring her food." (Full text)
Washington Daily News - End of the Guards
The Washington Daily News said August 21: "Two years ago last Sunday, Chairman Mao in person gathered a million or so Red Guards to a rally in Peking and sent them forth to topple 'reactionaries' and 'revisionists' as the vanguard of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution.
"And they did. They smashed shops selling pointed shoes and narrow trousers, broke priceless statues as 'demons of the old ruling class,' burned 'bourgeois' books, forced passengers in cycle-taxis to do the pedaling, and harassed young couples found holding hands on the park bench.
"The Red Guards' excessive zeal aroused an exasperated reaction from factory workers and communal peasants, who didn't want to be bossed by upstarts. The result was factional strife that led to near civil war and brought in the army to return the country to a semblance of order. The railroads, ridden free by the hippy-style Guards, haven't recovered fully yet. Thousands of Mao's pets have gone into full-time work as private enterprise hooligans.
"So, on the second anniversary, the authoritative Peking People's Daily told the Red Guards to 'reform themselves, and unite with the worker-peasant-soldier masses who are armed with Mao Tse-tung's thought.'
"Or, translating freely from the Chinese: 'You really loused it up. Thanks, and so long. Don't call us, we'll call you.'" (Full text)
Toronto Telegram - Journalistic survival
The Telegram of Toronto said August 31: "The storms of the Cultural Revolution are still sweeping (Red) China, causing constant headaches for the Peking regime's newspaper editors.
"The principal goal of most (Red) Chinese journalists today is to survive.
"Being an intellectual in revolutionary (Red) China is a risky occupation at best, but these days it must be the most insecure job in the country.
"Yet it is still a more pleasant pastime than working in a steel mill or a mine or building a dam.
"As a result, the men and women who have newspaper positions do all they can to keep them. The fruits of their labors astound even those whose daily job it is to read the (Red) Chinese press.
"Articles are hopelessly verbose and painfully repetitive. Every sentence, every phrase Chairman Mao Tse-tung has uttered, is hurled at the unfortunate reader.
"For it is, after all, the surest way of keeping your job...
"What Mao has said and has written is considered the best copy by far, and those commentators who can squeeze a Maoist quotation into every second or third paragraph are admired by their colleagues for their ingenuity.
"Throughout the two years of the Cultural Revolution, nobody has dared to attack the Chairman directly. Even those party members who were opposed to the extreme Maoist policies being pushed by the Cultural Revolution Group in Peking could not say they were against Mao.
"The chaos and confusion that followed the increasingly violent onslaughts against hitherto-respected Communist Party members has made a devastating impact upon (Red) China's press chiefs.
"Many editors and journalists fell from grace along with their former bosses, President Liu Shao-chi, Party Secretary Teng Hsiao-ping and scores cf other top men.
"During the height of Red Guard power in Peking last year, even the Party's theoretical journal, Red Flag, became a casualty. It simply ceased publication - partly because nobody was quite sure of what political line was in the ascendancy in Peking, and also because so many writers and leading party men in the capital were in disgrace.
"After almost eight months of suspension, Red Flag resumed publication in July, evidently blossoming with a series of commentaries on declarations by Mao Tse-tung, and a reproduction of a now-famous oil painting of Mao, widely advertised as a collective work by students of universities and colleges in Peking.
"The painting shows a Christ-like young Mao striding across the mountains of China on his way to preach revolution to the Chinese people...
"British diplomats in the Colony believe the Leftists in Peking have revived Red Flag in a desperate attempt to consolidate their policies, and to combat the power of the rightists.
"Former party and government officials who are being accused of conservatism and capitalist trends by Peking's leftists still retain power in many of China's provinces.
"Mao has been trying to dislodge them for the past two years, but has failed. It is doubtful therefore whether Chen Po-ta and Red Flag can do very much more than reprint the constant warnings from Peking that capitalist-roaders are undermining the Maoist revolution." (Partial text)
San Mateo Times - Recognition troubles
The Times of San Mateo, Calif., said August 26: "Leftwingers in the U.S., naively or otherwise, continue to advocate U.S., or UN, recognition of Red China. Yet the Peking government continues to spit threats and vow to destroy the free world system when opportunity offers.
"Britain recognized (Red) China in 1950 and the association has been a troublesome one. Last year the British Embassy was burned down.
"Several days ago, the British charge d'affaires received at last the exit visa he applied for 11 months ago. At present 13 others on the diplomatic staff are awaiting exit visas.
"British journalists have been confined for months for no properly established reason.
'Nor has the British Embassy proved fruitful in the information field. It has been said that when Britain wants to know something special about (Red) China, the people they ask are the Americans who do not recognize Peking." (Full text)
Baltimore Sun - No use for diplomacy
The Sun of Baltimore said August 19: "A strong argument has been made in the United States, during the past couple of years, that our Government should establish formal diplomatic relations with Communist China, reopen an embassy and set up an embassy staff in that country and, in general, renew the many-sided contacts which existed before the Communist party took control. Much can be said for such proposals from the viewpoint of promoting peace in the world. But this covers only one side of the case. It takes two to establish diplomatic relations that have any meaning or importance, and the British Government's dismal experience with the Chinese (Communist) Government does nothing to encourage new American efforts at this time.
"On this point the Manchester Guardian was reflecting wryly the other day on the news that four members of the British legation in Peking were allowed to leave the country after having been illegally detained for months. 'What purpose does a Peking mission serve?' asked the Guardian. Its answer, in part, was: 'No one can be sure why the British diplomats and Mr. Grey (a newspaper correspondent) were detained in the first place. No one can be sure what the (Red) Chinese think they have gained or whether the customary processes of diplomacy interest them at all... In practice the existence of diplomatic relations between Britain and (Red) China means only that the Chinese (Communist) Government can lay its hands conveniently on about twenty British hostages. Their legation is a building which can be sacked conveniently. Otherwise, as far as anyone can tell, the Chinese (Communists) have no use for diplomatic relations." (Full text)
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - Peiping's hypocrisy
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette said August 24: "The Soviet rape of Czechoslovakia has been characterized a 'shameless act' by that most dovelike of powers, Communist China This is strong language coming from a regime whose leader affirms that all political power resides in the muzzle of a gun. The official Peking newspaper, Jenmin Jih Pao, compared the stealthy seizure of a satellite nation with Hitler's occupation of the Sudetenland. No one would be deceived, asserted Jenmin Jih Pao, by the pretext of 'Soviet revisionists' that the invasion was staged to protect the fruits of socialism in Czechoslovakia. Drunk with the heady wine of moral indignation, the official organ could not resist accusing Moscow of acting in collusion with the 'imperialists' in Washington.
"It is gratifying to observe that the Maoist regime retains the faculty of distinguishing immorality in other nations. Although there is something disquieting about the high moral tone taken by a brutalitarian power, the fulmination against the Soviet aggressors has interesting implications. The deep ideological fissures in the Communist world are seen to be widening. Maoist devotion to unalloyed Leninism is manifest in the scornful dismissal of the wily Kremlin leaders as 'revisionists.'
"Despite domestic chaos, Peking has not renounced her ambition to supersede Moscow as the capital of world Communism. Few nations, however impoverished, are likely to submit their destinies to masters so contemptuous of basic human rights. The high moral tone of the Communist Chinese denunciation of Soviet imperialism will convince no one of the essential humanity of the cruel Maoist tyranny. The Red Chinese condemnation merely serves to make unanimous the sense of outrage shared by the nations of the world. It would be perhaps unfair to suggest that Peking's indignation is wholly opportunistic. After all, hypocrisy is the tribute vice pays to virtue." (Full text)