‘Vietnamese dig in on Chinese territory’

Press, 29 August 1978, Page 8

‘Vietnamese dig in on Chinese territory’

NZPA-Reuter Peking ] I China says that about 400 , Vietnamese troops have dug in over the week-end behind 1 three defence lines after ’ Vietnamese forces occupied ; a piece of Chinese territory oh Friday. The official New China I News Agency- said yesterday I that the troops had occupied : Bonien Ridge near the i Friendship Pass China-Viet- i nam 'border checkpoint after i recent bloody clashes there. I The agency said the Viet-It namese troops had dugl< trenches and laid barbed!' wire on Chinese territory, [I By Saturday afternoon the - ridge had been enclosed and: 1 the Vietnamese were stoning ( Chinese frontier officials. 1 : China originally said four <

people had been killed in theji clashes, but the latest report p said the death toll was high- | ] er and at least 10 people , were missing or had dis-11 appeared. i Both China and Vietnam I have blamed each other for ; the incidents which occurred the day before the fourth i session of talks in Hanoi I Over the position of more I than one million ethnic Chi- i nese in Vietnam. i The agency also said that[i : the Friendship Pass border i’ [checkpoint had been cleared:! 'of people waiting to enter 11 I China after more than 2000 j | stampeded across the front- i Her during the incidents. :i Thousands had been stran-M ded there since China closed!! I the frontier on July 12 to all I i except holders of entry cer- 1 <

tificates and Vietnamese exit visas. I The only report of the I military incursion has come ■from Peking, and the [N.C.N.A. said at the weekend that Chinese forces had be-'- ordered not to counterattack. Worried Western diplomats said that China would find it intolerable to have foreign troops digging in on its soil. - The agency’s correspondI ent said that he had seen I Vietnamese troops about [looom inside Chinese territiory. The reported occupation of the Chinese ridge was not [mentioned at the Hanoi talks, although it is clearly [the most serious turn taken iin the dispute between the 'Communist neighbours.