MAO MAY CALL OUT ARMY

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31276, 24 January 1967, Page 13

MAO MAY CALL OUT ARMY

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) TOKYO, January 23. The Chinese Prime Minister, Chou En-lai, said last night that the Army may be used to crush opponents of Mao Tse-tung, a Japanese correspondent reported today.

The Peking correspondent of “Mainichi Shimbun” said Chou’s declaration came yesterday at a mass meeting in Peking and was made public today in wall posters put up in Peking streets.

It was believed to be the first time that a high-ranking Chinese official had openly said that the three-million-man Liberation Army might be mobilised in Mao's support in the power struggle sweeping China. The Army has remained largely aloof from the struggle. Observers have said its open support for one side or another could prove decisive. Chou En-lai has been regarded as a moderating force between the warring factions. According to the Japanese correspondent, the wall posters quoted Chou as saying: “The Liberation Army will take resolute action to crush anti-revolutionary elements, who are trying to destroy the great proletarian cultural revolution.”

Chou, regarded as third man in the Chinese hierarchy behind Mao and Defence Minister Lin Piao, said there were leaders, who “hoist the Red Flag, but (in reality) are turning against the Red Flag.” This was apparently in reference to the group allegedly led by President Liu Shao-chi and Party SecretaryGeneral Teng Hsiao-ping which has been under attack for having opposed Mao’s hard-line policy.

There have also been reports that the Army itself has been plagued by the

power struggle and that some army officials, believed to be closely linked with Liu, have been either arrested or are under attack.

The Japanese report came on the heels of an earlier one by Radio Peking that Mao was consolidating his forces for a “bitter show-down battle” with strongly entrenched opponents in the continuing struggle. A violent fight between opponents and supporters of Mao Tse-tung was raging in Kiangsi province in Southeast China, said the Japan Broadcasting Company.

The report of the clash came shortly after the New China News Agency broadcast an editorial of the official “People’s Daily” saying the current power struggle in China is the beginning of a nation-wide class struggle to be waged throughout the year. The broadcasting company said that the news of the clash was monitored from a broadcast of the Kiangsi People’s Radio in Manchang, the provincial capital. The radio did not indicate ' en the fighting between the opponents and supporters of Mao started, but Hong Kong newspapers published stories of clashes between the factions in that area. The reports were based on information from travellers arriving in Hong Kong.