‘Tea and cakes’ for Chinese

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32971, 18 July 1972, Page 3

‘Tea and cakes’ for Chinese

(Nfew Zealand Press Association

WELLINGTON. July 17

The Chinese table tennis team would receive “the same treatment as any other national sports team" when it attended a reception at Parliament Buildings tomorrow afternoon, an Internal Affairs Department spokesman said today.

“Nothing special” was' being laid on for them, he i said. The Chinese will be guests; at a “tea and cakes” recep-; tion in Parliament, at which ;the host will be the Minister of Internal Affairs (Mr

Highet). Similar treatment would be accorded any other > national team, the spokes-1 man said. The Prime Minister (Mr • Marshall) and other Cabinet Ministers might attend thereception if their duties permit, he said. The main guest list had been supplied by the Table Tennis Association, and other invitations had been issued to Ministers, the Opposition, and members of Parliament. There was a brief scuffle between spectators at WelI lington Airport this afternoon when the team arrived from Auckland. The Chinese were met byi a singing. banner-waving group of about 50, some of whom carried flowers for the tourists. But there were also about 10 people grouped under a banner which read: “New Zealand is a free country. Choose freedom.” The brief scuffle occurred as the team and officials ; moved towards their bus. A middle-aged man and his 'teenage son moved near the bus, carrying a banner and a Taiwan flag. The banner was torn and the pair jostled. The police moved in, and asked the pair to stand further away. Those welcoming the Chinese then screened the pair’s banners from the bus windows with their own, bright red banners. The banners bore the names of the New Zealand China Society and the University Students’ Association.