CHINA TESTS. THERMONUCLEAR MATERIALS
While the protracted and inconclusive disarmament conference at Geneva has again adjourned and - U.S. Tignter planes stow, ever naterials. free Dd cad
Among other hypotheses, Asierican experts. believe that ‘this | test is a long step toward China! S development of the most powerful H-bomb;“the triple-stage "fission-fusion-fission". device,-.first . achieved by the United States about’ a decade ago and.thereafter utilized wy Soviet Scientists to Produce weapons with 100 megaton ‘yields. LS
In any case, American officials have ‘obviously “underestimated China's capacity to develop a hydrogen bomb just as they did 6arlier with the Soviet Union. After the first Chinese test in October 1964, they calculated that it would take five years before China would ‘have’ a ‘thermonuclear dewite . aa
With this: third test China| has blasted down. the ‘door to. the. exclusive thermonuclear club dominated by the United States and ~. the Soviet Union. Both of these superpowers did what they could to exclude™ China’ ‘from’ membership. “Moscow tore.up its 1957.treaty to aid Peking's nuclear development: In 1963 Washington and Moscow. concluded a partial test-ban treaty without consulting China and. then tried to impose its provisions without success upon that country.” -
Since then, both powers, who had already carried out. ‘adequate atmospheric experiments aad now possess an: overkill. nuclear, arsenal, have continued with underground tests. vind -
‘What will Washington do-in the face of China's. progress in the nuclear arena? The New York Times urges that the People's. . Republic | of China be invited to enter the United Nations and participate in the Geneva disarmament talks when they resume.
~ Bt ‘the ‘moment familiar cries are being raised from New Delhi to Washington about the incréased threat.to peace in Asia issuing from China's emergence as a thermonuclear power. Two incidents of. the past week show how hollow and hypocritical such anti- Chinese PrOPaB SHO is.
‘Premier Chou En-1ai | ‘stated ‘that, after its first nuclear explosion in October 1964, China made a specific proposal to the,
diplomati¢ contacts,» that: ‘the two nations pledge that. neither would be the first to tise atomic weapons against the other. The United States rejected this proposal. ite
This was the first that the American public has heard about
Peking's offer. Such:news ‘would havé marred the official caricature of China as-a Hitlenite aggressor straining: to use its prospective “nuclear arsenal for purposes. of conquest. —— dor
The State Department has now acknowledged that ‘the Chinese ‘offer was made and ‘tejected.on the°formal ground that: its terms did not provide sufficient: ‘Safeguard of enforcenent. OEE
: ‘However, the May: 12) ‘New York Times reported. that "an underlying reason for the rejection, according to officials, is:a-reluctance to get the United States into a position where it appears ;bo0 foreclose on the use of a weapon that is viewed as a deterrent to Communist aggression." In plain words, the president and the Pentagon do not intend to scrap their nuclear bombs or give up their intention to drop. them when and -where they: please... mo
This position was made clear by a State Department spokes- - man, Robert J. MeCloskey, who: said that the Chimese' want to outlaw the use of nuclear weapons, while the United States: "attitude:is: “that we should ban-’aggression in any form and get-on: with: vwerafied disarmament ona balanced basis and in a manner sonsistent; With, the security interests eh ‘all: countries:: " ‘ SESS | ae oy
The New York Times correspondent pressed. Mr, - MeCloskey, ‘to explain how controls could be devised to enforce a pledge that a nation would not‘be the first to.use: nuclear. weapons:. He provided no explanation. Instead, reading from a'position paper,' he went on to contend that China had shown no. ‘constructive interest" in, disarmament steps involving controls and verification... / to
"For example, he said, the: Chinese have refused to- sign the treaty forbidding’ nuclear tests: tain the air, in space or under, water. Nor, he said, have the Chinese shown any interest in the disarma— ment discussions being held at Geneva. In response to a question, he acknowledged that China had not beerdinvtted to participate in _, that conference. a Be
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Thus, Peking wants ‘to outlaw the use of. ‘atomic ‘weapons while Washington prefers eridless discussions on: gradual; disarmament . which, as‘ the futile proceedings” at Geneva demonstrate: get nowhere .. . President Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia correctly stated May., qe that China should not be condemned for testing nuclear devices, when “-igtronger nations were "raining" bombs on Vietnam near her borders. Indeed, the U.S. war hawks appear to be going beyond this to ‘a more perilous point. mes According to a spokesman of the Chinese Ministry of National Defense May 13, five United States fighter planes intruded .en China's airspace over Yunnan Province and shot down one of its military aircraft with guided missiles. Peking denounced the attack as "an extremely grave incident, a‘deliberateée,; systematic act of war provoked by the Johnson Administration. "
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*. The "clear arid present" danger of.a.conflict which could-: escalate into. a nuclear war:comes from .such:increasingly aggressive acts of the U.S. military machine in Southeast Asia, and not at.all from the Communist leadership in Peking.
“Tn: an* interview. given toa Pakistani ‘correspondent. in April and ‘made public. after the air attack, Premier Chou En-lai warned that some U.S. strategists were eager to bomb China, relying on -their air and: naval superiority. He said that "China will::not take the initiative’ to: provoke: war with the U.S." but that. once the war ‘breaks: outs. it: will: ‘have | no boundaries." 7 -