CHINA NAMES ENEMY

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33037, 3 October 1972, Page 15

CHINA NAMES ENEMY

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright)

PEKING, October 2.

China said officially for the first time yesterday that the Soviet Union and not the United States was her most dangerous enemy, Agence FrancePresse reported.

The affirmation was contained in a joint editorial published by the three main publications, the party paper, “People’s Daily,” the theoretical review, “Red Flag,” and the Army daily, on the twentythird anniversary of the foundation of the People’s Republic of China.

The editorial, which was the most complete balancesheet of an “unprecedented diplomatic harvest” drawn up to date, constituted in fact a "defence and illustration” of the diplomacy of the Prime Minister (Chou En-lai). The main ideas of the editorial can be summarised in seven points:

For the first time, it was officially and explicitly stated that the Soviet Union was China’s most dangerous enemy. The apparent detente between Washington and Moscow was only “superficial.” To oppose the two “superpowers,” Peking counts not only on the developing countries but also on certain “bourgeois” countries. To carry such a policy, China has the right to adopt a “flexible” attitude. The policy of peaceful coexistence is not contrary

to the interests of the world’s revolutionary movements. The latter must above all count on their own strength. The policy aimed at “encircling” China has failed.

It had been clear for a long time that Chou, in launching his diplomatic offensive, had been haunted by the “Soviet threat.” But yesterday was the first time the press has expressed this fear so clearly. The editorial was much harsher towards Moscow than towards Washington. It said that the “Soviet revisionist renegade clique” with a “growing appetite,” was “reaching out its hand everywhere” and was “even more deceitful than the old line imperialist countries and therefore more dangerous.”

It said that the Soviet Union was “pushing neocolonialism in a big way in Asia, Africa and Latin America,” following a policy of “military expansion,” and “war preparations,” and conducting “subversive activities in many countries. It was also “occupying” Czechoslovakia.