‘China Expects Attack From U.S.’

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31074, 1 June 1966, Page 1

‘China Expects Attack From U.S.’

“China is a nation armed to meet any emergency, and the Americans had better think twice before they attack China,” said Mr P. J. Alley, reader in civil engineering at the University of Canterbury, in an interview yesterday after his return from a May Day visit to China.

“China will not attack any other Power unless attacked, but if there is war it will know no boundaries.” he said. Politically, China had changed completely since his last visit said Mr Alley. In 1957 it was passive and emerging from liberation. “In 1966 it is thoroughly revolutionary, and is not going to stand for the United States policy of imperialism.

“China expects attack from America and is ready for it,” Mr Alley said. “Intrusions have already been made, and warnings have been ignored repeatedly.

“There are 206 million people (men and women) under arms in China today. I saw them in the militia drilling every day from 5 a.m. to 7 a.m. before going to work. They are well equipped. 1 tried a rifle equal to anything we know. Every university, every business, every factory, and every commune has people under military training. 1 saw exceedingly efficient radar establishments. 1 did not see any major military installations such as airfields and missile or amunition bases, but I was assured they could meet any threat,” Mr Alley said. “There was no Russian influence. They are rowing with the Russians,” he said. Yet this military might need not be regarded as a threat to the rest of the world, Mr Alley said. He saw efforts to move people from one valley to another to permit construction works to be done on the first, and they were reluctant to shift. It was unthinkable that they would move to New Zealand, for instance. “China is now a huge garden,” Mr Alley said. He would completely discount re-

ports of chaos in the agricul tural and industrial develop ment programme. “They had three droughts in 1960-63, but there hav< been good years since, irriga tion is making the earth fruit ful, and the 300-mile Pekini plain, for instance, is now pro

tected from flood and Irrigated from a huge earth dam. I drove 140 miles through flourishing wheat and paddy fields. They have really learned about necessary irrigation flows, and electrification has spread everywhere.” Mr Alley inspected the Hsin Nan dam in Central China, which is bigger than Benmore and produces 600,000 kilowatts of electricity. Its construction, he said, was typical of the educational revolution, in which most Chinese spent half their time in study and half in work. "This has narrowed the gap between the mental and manual worker and given new impetus to both." he said. Mr Alley said he did not have a single reservation in his admiration for China. As he will retire from the university at the end of this year, he was asked whether he planned to live in China. “I would like to,” he replied, “but I think I would serve the cause of friendship better by staying here so that there is one brother in New Zealand and one (Mr Rewi Alley) in China.” A