Foreign pair attacked in central Peking

Press, 20 November 1980, Page 8

Foreign pair attacked in central Peking

NZPA Peking il p An Australian and an Englishman are undergoing ’ hospital treatment after being i attacked in central Peking I last Monday by a deranged i person, the’ "Peking Daily”: has reported. The two were identified as ’ Jim Howarth aged 45, an ' Australian engineer, and a 1 geologist, Keith Henlev, aged ’ 40. Their attacker was identi-; tied as He Lianyong, who has i been classified as a mentally i deranged person since 1975. i He was arrested shortly after the attack which occurred oi* ; Monday afternoon near the i Minzu Hotel. The two, both employed by < the Australian Mineral Deve- : lopment Laboratories had just finished a conference ’ with Chinese officials at the i Minzu, one of Peking’s top hotels. He Lianyong attacked them : with a kitchen knife, inflicting head injuries in an incid-' ent described by the news-' paper as being of “major im- 1 portance.” Nothing was stolen from i the two who were rushed to i

ihospital. Reliable sources said ■they would be released soon. The last time a foreigner was attacked in Peking was in 1977 when a New \ork businessman, Richard Talmage, was mugged in a city street. His attacker, Yu Mingqtng, was officially branded a* “counter revolutionary” and was executed a week afterwards. , , In similar incidents in 1966 and 1975 the attackers were shot by firing squad and the outcome of a few other cases in 1977 is not known. The deranged person who attacked Mr Howarth and Mr Henley had previously tried to commit suicide a number of times, the “Peking Daily” said. , .... It added that he had tried to provoke trouble and wanted to kill someone and that it was only after these “troubles" that he was certified in 1975. The two visitors came to China to present papers to Chinese officials at the invitation of the Ministry of MetaV lurgical Industry. They were also scheduled to visit several mines.