Adding physical conflict to their ideological dispute, Peiping and Moscow are embroiled in an economic, political, and social rivalry in remote but uranium-and petroleum-rich Sinkiang in northwestern China.
Large numbers of Uighurs and Kazakhs, minority peoples of Sin kiang, have fled to Russian territory. The total is estimated at 110,000. The Peiping regime has accused the Soviet of fomenting racial feuds and carrying out "large-scale subversive activities". Moscow counter-charges that the Chinese Communists have persecuted the Sinkiang minorities and encroached on Russian territory more than 5,000 times last year alone.
Kuzhamyrov, rector of a Soviet institute at Alma Ata, capital of the Kazakh S.S.R. opposite Sinkiang, said on March 25 at a plenary session of local Communist Party leaders that Uighurs and Kazakhs were fleeing to Russia in large numbers because of "enforced assimilation and massive repression."
The Soviet official said the Chinese Communists, dominated by great power chauvinism, deform Marxist doctrine on the question of nationalities and race, and discriminate against minorities living in China, especially in the autonomous region of Sin kiang-Uighur. His statements were quoted by the Soviet newspaper Kazakhstan Pravda. On April 6, Soviet reporters who had visited the frontier toward the end of 1963 made similar charges in published articles.
The Chinese Communists reportedly have sent more than 200,000 additional troops to Sinkiang border garrisons to guard against Soviet-inspired local revolts and to prevent any mass exodus of the minority. To intensify watch over "unreliable elements," Peiping has stationed 400,000 veteran officers and men of the "Production-Reconstruction Legion" in the communes of Sinkiang. Young men from Shanghai, Nanking, and other big cities have been forced to go to Sinkiang to join the Legion. Communist publications have spoken of a Shanghai group of more than 10,000 youths as the vanguard of this year's exiles to the remote province.
A military zone 20 miles wide has been established by the Chinese Reds to prevent Soviet infiltration or the flight of minority refugees. Local residents have been compelled to withdraw to a distance of 30 miles from the border.
Fist Fights
Intelligence sources report that when the Chinese Communists ordered the withdrawal in early April, an uprising of more than 10,000 minority people occurred in northwest Sinkiang. They used farm tools to fight Chinese Communist troops. Several hundred persons were killed and large herds of live-stock butchered.
Fist fights between newly arrived Chinese Communist troops and Sinkiang minority people have been frequent. Minorities allege mistreatment by poorly disciplined soldiers and say their food has been given to the army reinforcements. Anti-Communist uprisings have spread from the Sinkiang north to the south. Large-scale popular revolts were reported in several southern counties. Herds of cattle and other livestock of people's communes were poisoned by commune members.
To combat Soviet subversion, the Chinese Communists have arrested some 700 minority leaders in recent months. Included are former vice chairman of the "Sinkiang-Uighur autonomous region" Jakorov (phonetic) and former Tihua (Urumchi) Mayor Asad (phonetic). Some other chiefs of Ili (Kuldja) city were executed on charges of "provincial nationalism." Minority people who are considered pro-Russian are barred from entering neighboring Chinghai, Kansu, Tibet, and Sikang provinces for fear they might engage in subversive activities. Sinkiang also has been cut off from the outside world and the activities of the minority peoples have been heavily restricted.
Some Sent Back
The Chinese Communists have launched an anti-revisionist and anti-secret agent campaign to root out pro-Khrushchev elements and Russian spies. The Chinese Reds do not hesitate to persecute pro-Russian elements in Sinkiang. These include both Russian nationals who immigrated into Sinkiang and those sent by Russia disguised as minority peoples. Some of the Uighurs and Kazakhs who fled into Russia probably have been sent back to spy or stir up trouble.
The Communist New China News Agency reported on April 29 that Saifudin, chairman of the "Sinkiang Regional People's Council," accused Russia of carrying out "large-scale subversive activities". He made the accusation at a meeting of the "Sinkiang Parliament." In a summary of Saifudin's report, NCNA said:
"In the last few years the authorities of the Soviet Union have violated the principles governing relations between socialist countries. They carried out large-scale subversive activities against Sinkiang. They enticed and coerced tens of thousands of Chinese citizens into going to the Soviet Union, and created trouble along the border.
"The Soviet authorities used their propaganda machine, the press and radio in Alma Ata, Tashkent, and Frunze, adjacent to Sinkiang, to spread lies and slanders regarding the Chinese Communist Party.
"They distorted the history of Sinkiang in an attempt to undermine the unity of Chinese people of various nationalities."
Nuclear Tests
In early September, 1963, Peiping Radio accused the Russians of attempting to overthrow the Chinese Communist regime in Ili city. It said that in April and May of 1962 the Soviet used its "organs and personnel" for subversive activities and subsequently "coerced and enticed several tens of thousands of Chinese citizens" to cross the border into Russia.
Peiping Radio went on to say that despite Chinese Red demands, Russia refused to send back the fleeing Chinese, using the pretext of "humanitarianism."
(File photo)
In 1962, the Chinese Communists began to discharge Russian personnel working in Sinkiang. By the autumn of 1963, all Russians and pro-Russians had lost their jobs and many had been arrested.
In the winter of 1961 Russia carried out nuclear tests in Siberia. Sinkiang crops were affected. Livestock losses and even human fatalities have been reported. The Peiping regime urged people to move out of eastern Sinkiang but lodged no protest against the Soviet government.
In May of 1962, the Kazakhs joined, forces with some Chinese Communist soldiers of Ili in an uprising against the Communist commune system. The Chinese Reds ruthlessly slaughtered the rioters. More than 60,000 persons fled to Russia. A Communist deputy chief of staff of the Sinkiang military district, identified as Major General Taipov led his men in an escape to Russia. The escapees were regrouped, retrained, and rearmed in the Tashkent area, and became the "East Turkestan Government Army" and the "Sinkiang Liberation Youth Corps." In May of 1963, these forces attacked Ili and Tahcheng (Chuguchak) in Sinkiang, destroying productive installations and clashing with Chinese Communist troops.
Russian Passports
In the spring of 1963, 8,000 members of the Communist "Production-Reconstruction Legion" fled into Russia. The Peiping regime then moved large forces of presumably "reliable" officers and men to Sinkiang from other parts of China and blockaded the border. Even so, an Ili battalion of the Fourth Division of the "Production-Reconstruction Legion" fled to Russia with their weapons last August. They used the cover of a field maneuver.
The Central News Agency reported from Hongkong last May 27 that a Moslem refugee had told of Russia secretly issuing passports to several thousands of Moslems in the Ining district of Sinkiang in 1961 and 1962. This was to instigate their flight to the Soviet.
With Russian passports, the Moslems demanded exit permits. Chinese Communist authorities were compelled to open the border for four days and let them go. However, some of the passport-holders failed to leave Sinkiang within the time limit.
Infuriated by Chinese Communist sealing of the border, the Moslems revolted in May of 1962. The Chinese Reds used machine guns and suppressed the uprising with heavy casualties. Afterward, residents of Ining were required to withdraw 30 to 40 kilometers from the border.
Also in 1962, the Chinese Communists closed Soviet consulates at Ili and Tihua without explanation.
To strengthen control over minority peoples and to stamp out "provincial nationalism," the Chinese Communists have expanded their panty organization in border areas. Sinkiang alone has 130,000 Chinese Communist Party members. In the "Sinkiang Production-Reconstruction Legion," 8,300 officers and men have been added to party roles. The previous total was 27,200.
Mao's Agents
In a syndicated column published in New York May 20, 1964, Ray Cromley said the Chinese Communists are building up their underground in the central Asian republics of the Soviet Union and in Moscow itself, aiming at the overthrow of Khrushchev.
Cromley said Mao Tse-tung's agents are doing "the heaviest and most successful work" in the Kazakh and Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republics adjacent to Sinkiang.
Russian and Chinese Communist troops reportedly clashed along the northwestern border of Sinkiang in May. The brief fire fight occurred when Chinese Communist agents crossed the border to distribute anti-Khrushchev publications along the Ili River. Russian troops chased the agents back across the border and were fired upon by Chinese Communist border guards.
'Turkestan Republic'
On May 30, 1964, the Soviet newspaper Izvestia declared: "The incidents on the Soviet-Chinese border inspired by (Red) Chinese authorities and at times assuming the form of flagrant violations cause special alarm."
Referring to the 4,200-mile border between the two Communist states, the newspaper said Russia wanted "friendship and fraternity," but that the Peiping regime was guilty of "interference in the internal affairs of the Soviet Union" through distribution of anti-Russian propaganda.
The Kremlin is said to be still contemplating the establishment of an "East Turkestan Republic" as a Soviet Sinkiang satellite. As a counter-threat, the Peiping regime has hinted it might claim Far Eastern portions of the Soviet Russia, including the naval base of Vladivostok. Border negotiations have begun in Peiping but there seems to be little prospect for a settlement.
Previously there were only two Soviet army divisions on the Sinkiang border. Four additional divisions from Eastern Europe and three from Moscow were sent there last year, raising the total number of troops to more than 150,000.
Chinese Communist troops along the Amur River border facing Russian territory in Siberia reportedly have been placed on the alert for incidents similar to those on the Sinkiang frontier.
No Serious Clash
The International Press Service of West Germany reported on May 22 that Russia is keeping a constant watch on Chinese Communist troop movements in Sinkiang, Inner Mongolia, and Manchuria from high-altitude reconnaissance planes. IPS said:
"The Soviet government is worried over the continuous Chinese troop movements along its two borders. The Chinese Communists have moved between 350,000 and 500,000 troops to the frontiers of the Soviet Union."
In spite of the military deployments of both sides, observers in Taipei do not foresee any serious armed clash. The Chinese Communists do not have the strength for war with the Russians. The Soviet Communists, although intending to engulf Sinkiang, expect to manipulate the minority people and gain their objective short of armed conflict.
Sinkiang is twice the size of Texas and has a 1,000-mile border with Russia. Deserts and steppes and high mountain ranges cover about 80 per cent of the land. For two centuries, it has been one of several arenas of Sino-Russian competition, especially during the declining years of the Manohu dynasty, when the Russians established suzerainty over the area.
The modern phase of the border dispute goes back to the 1930s, when Josef Stalin sought to create an "East Turkestan Republic" on the model of Outer Mongolia.
From 1935 to 1949, Russian influence was especially strong. Through Soviet maneuvering, several Sinkiang leaders were brought under Soviet control. A series of minority revolts was engineered by the Soviet between 1944 and 1949.
Peiping Purge
The anti-Chinese "East Turkestan Republic" was briefly established. Composed of peoples of the Moslem faith—Uighurs, Kazakhs, and Uzbeks—it was vaguely conceived of as an independent state under Russian hegemony.
After the Chinese Reds seized control of the mainland, Mao Tse-tung went to Moscow in December of 1949 to negotiate with Stalin. Two months later, Mao agreed to recognize the Soviet economic position in Sinkiang in exchange for Peiping's political sovereignty there. A mining agreement on petroleum and non-ferrous metals and an airline agreement were signed on March 27, 1950.
Although Soviet Rusia recognized Chinese Communist sovereignty over Sinkiang, all important economic activities were in the hands of the Russians, who regarded Sinkiang as a satellite.
In 1955, the Chinese Communists made Sinkiang province into the "Sinkiang-Uighur Autonomous Region" and began to arrest anti-Chinese minority leaders. At least 3,000 minority people were killed. In 1957, the Chinese Communists advocated "patriotic education" and carried out cultural reforms to bring local beliefs and traditions into line with Peiping policy. In the eye of the Russians, these moves were unfriendly. Since then, the rivalry for control of Sinkiang has gradually come out into the open.
The Chinese Reds first tried to control Sinkiang without open conflict with Russia. One measure was to send Chinese from the overcrowded cities of South China. At the same time large numbers of Sinkiang minority peoples were moved to other parts of China.
Before this process began, the biggest population groups were the Uighurs (2,940,000) and the Kazakhs (320,000), both of Turkic origin. Chinese numbered not more than 200,000. Today the population is about seven million and non-Sinkiang Chinese make up more than 30 per cent of the total.
Industrial Goal
The second measure of the Chinese Communists was to change their Sinkiang army, then 150,000 strong, into the "Production-Reconstruction Legion" and assign soldiers to farm work. These soldier-farmers and other immigrants have expanded the farm land from the original 18,000,000 mou (3,000,000 acres) to the present 40,000,000 mou (6,670,000 acres).
Part of the Sinkiang competition is for uranium and petroleum resources. Some estimates say the uranium deposits of Sinkiang exceed those of the United States, Russia, or France. Petroleum deposits are estimated at 120 million metric tons, or 58 per cent of the mainland total. Coal deposits are abundant. There is also plenty of copper, iron, tungsten, gold, and other mineral resources.
The Chinese Communists have hoped to make Sinkiang an industrial center. More than 80,000 meters of roads, or a third of the total in Peiping's first five-year plan, were built in Sinkiang. With Soviet help 1,160 factories were constructed. However, since the schism between Peiping and Moscow, more than half have shut down or sharply curtailed operations.
Soviet exploitation of Sinkiang uranium is a secret; but some hints can be found in a report of Wang En-mao, high-ranking Chinese Communist official in Sinkiang. On August 27, 1959, he told a conference that the Chinese and Russian Communists had cooperated to open up five mines in Sinkiang. They began production in 1953 and monthly output of crude uranium was reported to be 4,480 pounds.
Mao Tse-tung had hoped to make his regime a nuclear power. However, the uranium had to be transported to Russia for processing. Russia kept most of the refined product. In fact, the ideological dispute between Peiping and Moscow may be related to the uranium and Russia's continued declination to share either fissionable materials or know-how with Peiping.
The Chinese Communists apparently are less concerned about the danger of Soviet armed attack than about the internal problem of Sinkiang. Of the two million Chinese forced to immigrate there, 80 per cent are considered unreliable. With Soviet incitement and instigation, these immigrants, along with the grumbling members of the "Production-Reconstruction Legion," can become a powder keg for all China. If large-scale revolt erupts in any part of the mainland, it could spread like wildfire and quickly terminate the Communist regime.
Judged from any conceivable point of view, Sinkiang is one of the most likely places for the spark to be struck.