International China assails Russia in renewed verbal skirmishing

Press, 21 August 1978, Page 9

International China assails Russia in renewed verbal skirmishing

NZPA«Reuter

Constanta. Rumania

China has swiftly resumed its verbal attack on the Soviet L nion after Moscow accusations that the Chinese leader. Hua Kuo-feng. has used his historic \ isit to Rumania to slander the Russians.

A senior Chinese Com-; mumst Party official again accused Moscow of h">gemo-! ny — trying to dominate’ other nations — at a ban-1 quet on Saturday night after] Chairman Hua toured the strategic port of Constanta] on Rumania’s Black Sea' coast. In Bucharest on Wednes-j day, Mr Hua said that impe-i r alism and hegemonism —' Chinese jargon for the i United States and the Soviet] Union, respectively — were ' trying to undermine and' infiltrate other countries. This brought a retort from] the official Soviet news; agency, Tass, which said on' Friday that to charge Mos- < ow with hegemonism was far from reality. Tass accused Chinese leaders of making “blatant slanderous assertions.” Speaking in the holiday resort of Neptun, near Constanta, on Saturday night, Mr Chao Tsu-wang, party

‘leader of Szechwan province said he was sure the people I of Constanta would make an i important contribution to | what he called the common I fight against imperialism, I colonialism, neo-colonialism, land hegemonism. I The term hegemonism was I omitted from the joint offi- ] cial statement issued on Friday on talks between Mr I Hua and the Rumanian President (Mr Nicolae Ceausescu) I apparently to avoid embar- ' rassing Rumania, an inde--1 pendent-minded member of (the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact. ] Mr Hua on Saturday ] toured a huge shipyard in ; Constanta, Rumania’s main ;port across the sea from Sevastopol — headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea fleet. According to Western diplomatic sources, China might establish a consulate in Constanta under an agreement reached when President Ceausescu visited Peking last May — a move likely to disturb the Russians because

:iit could allow the Chinese to ; | monitor Soviet naval rnove- ' ments in this strategic area. I Without confirming this, ’.Mr Chao said in his Neptun i speech that one accord , reached during this week’s , talks provides for regular shipping links between s Rumania and Chinese ports - — almost certainly involving • Constanta observers said. r The five-day visit, first to Europe by a Chinese party ) chairman for 21 years, is - also expected to yield agree- - ments on Chinese oil and f Rumanian drilling tech]nology, and on vehicles and /'heavy industrial equipment, i; Mr Hua will have the opportunity to answer the Soi viet charges himself at a i banquet he is giving in honour of President Ceau- - sescu today. t But diplomatic sources - said he was unlikely to do t this in the light of Rumat nian sensitivities. ? Mr Hua will fly on to Yu- ) goslavia tomorrow (N.Z. s time).