China talks continue

Press, 24 August 1977, Page 8

China talks continue

NZPA-Reuter Peking The American Secretary of State (Mr Cyrus Vance) and the Chinese Foreign Minister (Mr Huang Hua) have opened their second round of talks with Mr Vance concluding a review of American foreign policy. The secretary, who discussed other regions in the first round, was to cover Latin America and Africa in the second.

China, which backed one of the losing factions in Angola last year, has bitterly assailed Soviet policy in Africa, particularly in the Red Sea and the troubled Hom of Africa area in recent months.

Little if anything concrete was expected to emerge from his discussions, although the American side hopes they could open the way to progress towards full normalisation of relations.

Mr Vance said that President Carter was committed to establishing full diplomatic ties with China. He said Mr Carter regarded the SinoAmerican relationship as “an important factor contributing to peace in Asia and elsewhere in the world.” But the Chinese have made it clear that normal relations could come only when the United States severed its diplomatic and military ties with Taiwan.