U.S. Rejects China's Collusion Charge

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30212, 17 August 1963, Page 13

U.S. Rejects China's Collusion Charge

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter —Copyright) WASHINGTON, August 16. The State Department yesterday rejected a Chinese allegation that the United States and Russia were in collusion to prevent China from acquiring nuclear weapons.

The allegation was made in a broadcast by Peking Radio which claimed that the nuclear Test-Ban Treaty concluded by Britain, the United States and Russia was an attempt “to bind China hand and foot” in the nuclear weapons field. "This statement is clearly another propaganda attempt to obscure the fact that the Chinese have denounced the Test Ban Treaty . . . and have thereby exposed themselves to the indignation of the vast majority of the world’s people,” a spokesman said. Commenting on another Chinese allegation that the United States and the Soviet Union had agreed to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons to other countries, the spokesman said it was United States policy to prevent the proliferation of atomic arms. But he emphasised that there was no specific agreement be-

tween Washington and Moscow on this point. The Nuclear Test Ban Treaty was "a co-operative effort for peace” among the United States, Britain and Russia, as well as other nations which had adhered to the pact. "It is international co-operation for peace and not collusion against anyone,” the spokesman said. He avoided giving a direct answer to a reporter who asked whether the United States would be permitted under the treaty to give nuclear weapons or nuclear secrets to France. His reply to both questions was that the treaty dealt solely with a prohibition on testing in the atmosphere, under Water and in outer space. China Denounced In Moscow today, "Pravda” accused the leaders of China of stabbing world communism in the back and suggested they were interested in promoting nuclear war between the United States and the Soviet Union, the Associated Press reported. Ignoring the Chinese charge that the Soviet Prime Minister (Mr Khrushchev) reneged on a promise to supply the Chinese nuclear arms and guidance, "Pravda’ said the Chinese leaders had departed from Communist doctrine to a point "left of common sense.” The article claimed the Chinese leaders were going out of their way to prevent a relaxation of tension between the United States and the Soviet Union. “Could it be that they are really interested in setting these two powers on a collision course in the world

arena?” asked “Pravda,” the official organ of the Soviet Communist Party. The article said the Chinese leadership had started a struggle against the Soviet Union, the Soviet Communist Party and “against all the MarxistLeninist parties.” As a result, said “Pravda,” “the Chinese leadership, in point of actual fact, is stabbing in the back world socialism, the entire antiimperialist front, the cause of world peace.” The Chinese Foreign Minister (Marshal Chen-yi) said this danger was demonstrated by American plans to station nuclear submarines in Japan. He was speaking at a reception in Peking to mark the eighteenth anniversary of the “liberation” of North Korea.