Word: chou
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Countering China. Oddly enough, China's Chou, in his interview with New York Timesman James Reston, expressed a parallel concern (see THE PRESS). His government, he indicated, was worried about what they feel are Japanese aggressive designs for a Tokyo-Taipei-Seoul linkup. At one point during the interview, in fact, Reston told the Premier: "Nothing has surprised me quite as much since coming here as the vehemence of your feeling about Japan." Obviously, however, Peking's principal preoccupation is with its conflict with the Soviet Union...
Wherever he goes, James Reston of the New York Times is something of a presence, even in Peking. Last week, recovered from his appendectomy and acupuncture (TIME, Aug. 9), Scotty Reston came up with the longest and so far the only one-to-one interview with Premier Chou En-lai since the start of Ping Pong diplomacy last April. The formal question-and-answer session lasted three hours, followed by a two-hour dinner in the Fukien Room of the Great Hall of the People. Reston's tone was hardly that of the ordinary newsman. By turns statesmanlike...
...Californian, and he looks to the Pacific in the way that we who live on the other side of the continent do not." Moreover, said Reston, "I think he is a romantic, and I think he is dead serious about China, where he sees a historic role." Replied Chou politely: "Thank you for providing me with this information...
...Concessions. On the main issues between China and the U.S., Chou was unyielding. He insisted that U.S. troops be withdrawn not only from Viet Nam and Taiwan, but from Japan, Thailand and the Philippines as well. ("This doesn't seem to me to be a realistic basis that any President could accept," Reston observed.) China would not mediate in Viet Nam, continued Chou, nor would it accept anything less than expulsion of Taiwan from the U.N. before "we go in." He professed to be perplexed over seeming differences in the Nixon pledge to seek U.N. entry for Peking...
What surprised Reston most was Chou's deep anxiety over a revival of Japanese militarism that would threaten both Korea and Taiwan. "You are really worried about Japan, aren't you?" Reston asked. Chou was also concerned about the massing of Soviet military might on China's northern border, but added: "We Chinese are not afraid of atom bombs. We are prepared. The great majority of our big and medium cities now have underground tunnels." Chou claimed the Russians "want to lasso us" into a test-ban conference of nuclear powers only, while China hopes...