U.S. MISSILE IN CHINA

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28728, 28 October 1958, Page 13

U.S. MISSILE IN CHINA

Propaganda Display (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) NEW YORK, October 26. In its first week of exhibition an American sidewinder missile attracted 50,000 visitors to the Chinese People s Cultural Palace, a North American newspaper correspondent reported from Peking. The purpose of the exhibition, the correspondent’s guide explained, was “to show the evil inventions of American imperialists.” For the first time in history, a sign proclaimed, guided missiles were being used against human beings. The Sidewinders, air-to-air missiles, were supplied to the Chinese Nationalists under the “■direct instigation of the United States” for firing against the Communist Chinese Air Force, it was explained. The Sidewinder on display in Peking, which was reported to have been picked up in Chekiang Province, was stood near a photo display illustrating what was alleged to be American “germ warfare” used in the Korean war. The unexploded warhead and body of the missile, half of it painted white, were intact and bore United States markings. The nose part of the missile was fragmented, but the Sidewinder’s in-fra-red mechanism was described by fervent spielers to large groups. Among them were many children who moved along silently in quick succession outside the exhibition hall. A huge poster cartoon showed the hand of the Chinese people grasping the head of a snake—representing the Sidewinder—while the tail of the snake strangled an American “imperialist.” Other banners exhorted the people to greater productivity, in view of the unprecedented threat of guided missile warfare. In a book filled with comments a steel worker wrote: “I am very indignant against America. The Chinese people have refused to be frightened by this kind of military provocation. I will now work harder.”