Brezhnev attacks bombing

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33110, 28 December 1972, Page 12

Brezhnev attacks bombing

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter —Copyright) ! MOSCOW, Dec. 27. i The Soviet Communist Party leader, Mri Leonid Brezhnev, has; condemned renewed American bombing in Vietnam and said that! the future course <»!’ Soviet - American relations hinged on the question of the ending of the Vietnam war.

The Soviet leader said that China had spurned a Soviet offer of non-aggression—to embrace both conventional and nuclear weapons—made in January, 1971. The 66-year-old Mr Brezhnev made a broad-ranging survey of world affairs before more than 5000 Communist leaders, officials and other guests at a Kremlin ceremony marking the birth; of the union of Soviet peoples; 50 years ago. Apart from the Vietnam: crisis and what he called' China’s “malicious slanders,” the Soviet leader’s views of foreign affairs in his three hours and a half speech showed a generally favourable trend.

Mr Brezhnev said that the Soviet Union favoured serious preparations and effective conduct of negotiations aimed at reducing forces in central Europe. Provided that the West did not conduct talks in a cold war spirit the Soviet Union also favoured a broad exchange of ideas, information, and contacts between nations in the European security conference now in preparation. But these exchanges would have to respect sovereignty, laws and customs in each country, and aim at promoting confidence and good neighbourliness. In his first direct statement on Indo-China since the break in the secret Paris talks on Vietnam, Mr Brezhnev conditionally held open the door for continued American-Soviet co-operation.

He said the United States and the Soviet Union had laid the basis of their cooperation in the nuclear age on the principle of peaceful co-existence, he added. “If the two countries—the U.S.S.R. and the United States—will really follow the course charted jointly during the Moscow negotiations (held when President Nixon was in the Soviet capital early this year), then we think new substantial steps i developing Soviet-American ! relations for the benefit of the peoples of the two countries and for universal peace may become possible during further contacts. “However —and this should be emphatically stressed—-

[much will depend on the course of events in the imi mediate future and in particular on the turn of events in the question of ending the war in Vietnam.”

Earlier in his speech, the! Soviet leader had condemned America’s manoeuvres over; Vietnam. He expressed Soviet; indignation at the bombing s and the bloodshed and; pledged continuing Soviet aid 5 for Hanoi. He said that the Vietnam war was one of the dirtiest in history. “Grave responsibility devolves on the United States Government for these barbarian acts and for the bloodshed that it continues to inflict on the Vietnamese people,” he declared. He said: ■ “The Soviet Union, all peace-loving States and all peoples of the world resolutely and angrily condemn these acts of aggression.”

5 Observers said that the i done of Mr Brezhnev’s re- ] {marks on Vietnam was bal-h lanced, and they reflected the h considerable political invest-! ment the present Kremlin leadership has made in continuing American co-opera-tion, upon which depend : long-term economic co-opera- 1 tion programmes. Turning to relations with : China, Mr Brezinev disclosed that Moscow invited China to accept a non- ‘ agression pact in 1971. This would have ruled out attack : by one State against another < by conventional or nuclear : arms, but China had not replied to the offer. The Soviet Union had neither territorial nor economic claims on China, Mr Brezhnev said. He derided China’s “malicious slanders” against Moscow as attempts to split the < Communist camp and foment discord among national liberation movements and as i an unprincipled move to form an anti-Soviet alignment at ' any cost. It had brought them allies : among English Tories, Portu- , ;guese ocolonialists, South I African rascists, and revengeseeking elements in West Germany, he said. The Chinese Ambassador,| Liu Hisu-Chuan, left the hall in protest after these re- i i marks, Chinese sources said I later. I The Ambassador was attending the ceremony with 5 other members of the Moscow diplomatic corps. The Soviet Party leader : said that the Soviet proposal ; for a collective security sys-; i tern in Asia was not designed ’lto encircle or contain China I but offered China a position •las equal partner in such a’ ; I system. Mr Brezhnev also said the I important negotiations were ■lto take place next year with

[Japan aimed at signing a ISoviet-Japanese peace treaty.

Leaders and officials from 11 other ruling Socialist parties, with thousands of guests from neighbouring and friendly countries packed the Kremlin Palace of Congresses yesterday for the union celebrations.

Mr Brezhnev singled out. President Georges Pomipdou of France and Chancellor Willy Brandt of West Germany for having placed their relations with Moscow and the Soviet bloc on a realistic basis of co-operation. He referred to the signing in East Berlin of the “good neighbour” treaty between East and West Germany as a major result of Europe’s progress towards peace and security.

This was a victory for reason and realism in international relations, he said.

Problems remaining included the need to invalidate ti e Munich agreement which partitioned Czechoslovakia and the admission of East ‘and West Germany to the ‘United Nations.

Soviet co-operation in Latin America had been making headway through the consolidation of socialism in Cuba, and Moscow had deep sympathy for the freedom struggle of the Chilean people, Mr Brezhnev said. China and Albania—-lead-ers of the anti-Soviet front in world communism—were absent from the Kremlin celebrations. Observers assumed that they were not invited.

Opening the ceremonies, President Nikolai Podgorny said that the anniversary of the -union was the greatest date in Soviet history after the Bolshevik revolution. He said that more than 100 countries were represented at the Soviet jubilee through political parties, trade union and other organisations. Mr Truong Chinh, a North Vietnamese Politburo member, and Mrs Nguyen Thi Binh of the Viet Cong, were prominent among the guests. At the end of his speech

Mr Brezhnev reverted to domestic affairs and promised that a new Soviet Constitution would be worked out for final approval at the next Soviet party congress, due in 1976. The last constitution was promulgated in 1936, in the Stalinist era. Josef Stalin, the former Soviet dictator who was denounced for terrorism after his death, received a passing mention, together with other old Bolsheviks for his part in the formation of the 1922 union, but the Kremlin assembly did not applaud.