Washington is animated

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32663, 20 July 1971, Page 13

Washington is animated

(N.Z.P.A. Staff Correspondent) WASHINGTON, July 19.

The smell of bigPower intripie is in the air in Washington, President Richard Nixon’s announcement that he will go to Peking, preceded by the secret mission by his personal envoy and the still mostly secret talks with Chinese Communist leaders, enlivened the United States capital.

The Vietnam peace negotiations in Paris, the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks between Russia and the United States in Helsinki and the persistent coming and going of diplomats and politicians seeking a Middle East peace formula had become almost boring. But now there is a feeling of excitement in Washington, D.C. Newspapers delve speculatively into the meaning of developments. Dinner parties and cocktail hours hum with animated discussion of possibilities.

To Moscow? Will the President go on from Peking to Moscow? How strongly will the conservative Right of America move to block progress in the Wash-ington-Peking dialogue? How will Peking react to this clear indication that it has at last achieved big-Power status? Washington ponders these questions with frantic fervour, savouring the delights of a capital at the centre of one of the most significant developments in the last decade.

Even within the State Department there is a feeling of excitement. Anger and frustration which might have been expected in view of the failure of the White House to I utilise the department’s

resources in the early stages of this bold bid for a ChineseAmerican rapproachment has been kept to a minimum by the possibilities that have now emerged. 1972 election The domestic backroom politicians have been given a new factor to analyse. How will the trip to Peking affect next year’s Presidential contest? Some commentators believe that if successful in achieving a normalisation of relations with China and as a result, hopefully, an end to the Indo-China conflict, the President is certain' to be reelected. Others reckon the state of the economy to be the key issue. Almost all agree that if the President’s 1 initiative works out as hoped i the Democrats will concentrate their fire on economic 1 issues, particularly unemploy- ' ment. Taiwan’s seat

In the diplomatic drawing rooms and ambassadorial suites endless conversations centre on the ramifications of the announcement. How is the question of Taiwan’s seat at the United Nations to be resolved? What will Russia’s reaction be? What of the effect on Asian and Pacific politics? Even the'man in the Washlington street gets caught up in discussion. On buses and along sidewalks many people can be heard chuckling at the success of the White House in keeping the Kissinger mission secret from the probing Washington press corps. There is sympthy in the streets for the embarrassing position in which the White House found itself when newspapers began publication of the Pentagon papers. Reflections will begin this week. And some diplomats say that while the possibilities raised are enormous it ought not to be forgotten that the President is the biggest gun America can fire in a bid for an accommodation with Pek-