Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1962-10-23

seven or eight miles in an area
Just east of Bhutan.
The new attack was launched
q few miles east of this area
at Bum Pass, a defense spokes-
man said, adding to the To-
wang threat.
Elsewhere on the disputed
Himalayan border, fighting
continued without major
changes in position.
Successfully Resisting
The spokesman said that at
the northwest end Of the Dor
der in Ladakh "our posts are
successfully resisting the Chi
rlese assaults"
He reported earlier four posts
were captured by the Chinese
in Ladakh and seven were
evacuated. ..,-.,
At the eastern end OF tho
border 20 miles from Burma,
the Chinese attack is also con-
limiting on Kibitoo on the
Luhit River, south of Rima.
The main Chinese advance
was reported in an area just
east of Bhutan. Chinese forces
have driven Z or 8 miles south
of Khinzemane in the river
valley, reaching toward Towang,
the spokesman said.
+ Attack Along Trade Route
Early today the Chinese also
began attacking across the
Bum Pass, a major trade route
from eastern Tibet into India.
The route leads down to To-
wang, the economic and reli-
gious center for the western
end of midas Northeast From
tier Province.
Towang is Is or II air miles
from what India considers to
be the border.
The Red Chinese declared in
q broadcast they no longer
were respecting, the 48-year-old
Himalayan boundary, charging
the Indians had crossed it first.
Negotiations Offered
Peiping radio coupled the
charge with an offer to nego-
tiate with India for peaceful
settlement of the bloody border
conflict which Prime Minister
Nehru said yesterday threatens
his country's independence.
AS fighting was reported con-
tinuing on the fourth day of
hard battling which pushed the
Indians steadily back, an In
dian spokesman indicated Mr..
Nehru has rejected Liberian
proposal of mediation by Afri-
can-Asian powers.
Red China made the charge |
that Indian troops crossed the
Mcmahon Line in a new at
tempt to place the blame on
India for the current fight
ing. India has charged repeat
edly that the Chinese, not the
Indians, launched large-Scale
assaults four days ago.
Restraints Ended
The Chinese statement said
the Peiping government, al
though it made clear repeated
iy it did not recognize the Nc
Mahon Line, nevertheless had
followed a policy of not cross
ing the line which India con-
siders its northern border with
COMMUNICATIVE Tibet.
However" said Peiping,
taking the greatest restraint
of the Chinese government as
a sign of weakness, the Indian
government pushed farther and
farther ahead and its troops
crossed the so-called Mcmahon
Line, invaded and occupied
larger tracts Of Chinese terri
tory and launched large-scale
attacks on Chinese frontier
guards"
Because of this, said the
broadcast, 1.-The Chinese from
tier guards fighting in self de-
Tense no longer need to restrain
themselves to the bounds OF
the illegal Mcmahon Line"
The Mcmahon Line was
drawn by a British diplomat,
Sir Henry Mcmahon, in nego-
tiations with Tibet in 1914,
when India was under British
rule.
Door Open for Talks
The Chinese statement, at
tributed to a spokesman for
Peiping's Ministry of National
Defense, said even under the
present circumsta nc IS the
Chinese side will decidedly not
rule out the possibility of seek
ing an end to the border con-
flict and reopening peaceful
negotiations"
Before the current outbreak
Mr.. Nehru steadfastly had re-
fused to negotiate unless the
Chinese first withdrew from
disputed territory. He told his
people in a 13-minute broad
cast yesterday India must
carry on the struggle" because
she cannot submit to the ag-
erosion or domination OF a
powerful and INSCRIPTIONS"
foe. He appealed for national
unity. hard work, no strikes
and warned of possibly more
reyerses in what may prove to
be a long crisis.
so Million Watched