Peking proposes talks date

Press, 18 July 1979, Page 8

Peking proposes talks date

NZPA-Reuter Peking China has proposed that talks with the Soviet Union to improve relations between the two communist giants should start in Moscow ;n September, Soviet sources have said. The proposal, a reply to a Soviet Note of June 4 suggesting that the talks open in Moscow in July or August, was handed to the Soviet Ambassador (Mr J. S. Shcherbakov) at the Foreign Ministry in Peking. The Soviet sources said the Chinese Note proposed that the delegations to the talks be headed by special representatives with the rank of Deputy Foreign Minister and that the first round be held in Moscow and the second in Peking. Western diplomatic sources said the delay in the Chinese reply to last month’s Soviet note could be due to two factors: the SinoVietnamese peace talks which have in fact remained deadlocked in Peking, and a foreign-policy debate at the recent meeting of the National People’s Congress (Parliament). China originally proposed the talks with the Soviet Union to resolve outstanding issues and improve relations when it announced on April 3 it would not renew the 30year Sino-Soviet treaty of friendship, alliance, and mutual assistance.

Diplomatic sources say Moscow is approaching the talks with considerable caution, although Chinese sources have said that Peking is genuinely interested in seeking an accommodation with the Soviet Union, leaving ideological differences aside for the time being. Although there has been a definite lowering in the level of anti-Soviet polemics on the Chinese side. Peking has also continued to warn the world over what it sees as the threat of Soviet domination.

In the latest Chinese attack, Peking accused the Soviet Union of exerting pressure on the oil-rich Gulf region.

“The Soviet Union has quickened the pace of its southward drive towards the oil-rich crescent Gulf zone at a time when the world is feeling ever, more strongly the pinch of the energy crisis,” the official New China News Agency said.