ATTITUDE OF CHINA

Press, Volume XCI, Issue 27643, 27 April 1955, Page 13

ATTITUDE OF CHINA

U.S. Prerequisites “Unreasonable” (Bee. 16-30 *p.m.) HONG KONG, April 26. The New China news agency charged today that the United States had raised many “unreasonable prerequisites” in its reply to Mr Chou En-lai’s offer to discuss a Formosa settlement, “so as to elose the door to talks on the Formosa issue.” The agency said officials in Washington not only avoided a direct answer on whether they were willing to accept China’s offer, but according to an American press report “shied away from even the standard reply that they were cautiously optimistic.” The Peking “People’s Daily,” the Chinese Communist Party’s official paper, also condemned the United States for “putting forth unreasonable prerequisites.” Commenting on Senator Knowland’s reported remark that Mr Chou’s statement was “not in line with the established policy of the United States,” the paper said: “This means that other countries must sacrifice, their territories and sovereignty to fit themselves in with American aggressive policy.” Warning Against Rebuff Hong Kong’s British-owned “South China Morning Post” said today that whatever the suspicions and difficulties, a rebuff of Mr Chou’s offer would be both “ungracious and stupid.” At the same time, careful consideration was called for and the caution being exhibited was fully justifiable. “The first question is whether Peking really considers a Formosa settlement possible or whether the invitation is merely a manoeuvre,” it says. “Pessimists are supported by Mr Chou’s strange rider that Peking retains the right to ‘liberate’ Formosa—and by the Nationalist refusal to ‘sit at fne same table as the Chinese Communists.’ “In spite of these seemingly uncompromising attitudes, however, observers see possibilities. The most promising hope would appear to lie in the possibility that objectives will be limited. Peking’s reservation about ‘liberation’ appears to suggest that a settlement of Formosa’s future is not envisaged. “In that case the negotiations may be confined to the mainland islands—in effect, consent to a cease fire without further commitment, except some form of recognition for Peking that would not simultaneously eliminate the Nationalists,” the paper said.