the past 10 years have forced 85 planes to havana.

speaking in bal harbour, florida, secretary of state
william rogers said last night that he hoped the
agreement could be signed "in the next few days".

he said state department officials, in confirming
earlier that a tentative hijack agreement had been
reached with cuba, had failed to point out that it
would cover ships as well as planes.

however, mr rogers, who is in the miami beach suburb
of bal harbour with treasury secretary george shultz
to confer with labour leaders on monetary and trade
issues, cautioned against any conclusion that u.s.
policy towards cuba had changed.

mr rogers declined to give further details of the
accord but said it represented the mutual desire
of both countries to deal with the hijacking problem.

## hijack treaty

ottawa, feb, 14 (ap) -- cuba and canada have
agreed on the terms of an anti-hijack treaty, the external
affairs department said wednesday.

a department spokesman said the treaty will deal
with hijackers of both airplanes and boats.

in general terms, it would require each country
to present a suspected hijacker for prosecution in its
own courts, or send him back to the country where the
crime was committed.

a delegation of officials returned to ottawa from
havana tuesday night with the agreement.

a cuban delegation will come to ottawa in the near
future to sign the treaty, the spokesman said.

## uruguay

montevideo, uruguay, feb. 13 (upi) -- president
juan maria boordaberry named new ministers of defense
and interior today in accordance with an agreement with
the rebellious military, an armed forces statement
said the four-day revolt has had a "happy ending."

the military commands issued the statement minutes
after bordaberry, in appointing the new cabinet members,
pledged to carry out the military's demands.

a communique released by the commanders-in-chief
of the army, navy and air force tonight said, "the
military operations that developed over the past days,
which were motivated by events of public knowledge,
have arrived at a happy ending."

the announcement apparently ended the worst uruguayan
political crisis in 40 years.

-- end --

- 25 -

NEWS
FROM FOREIGN AGENCIES & PRESS

no. 047

friday, february 16, 1973

asia

kissinger

peking, feb. 15, dpa -- u.s. presidential aide henry kissinger met chinese prime minister chou en-lai, foreign minister chi peng-fei, and vice foreign minister chiao kuan-hua three hours after he arrived in peking today.

the political discussions took place in the great hall of the people. later, the chinese hosted a relatively small-scale private dinner for their high-ranking american guest.

kissinger and his 17 member delegation arrived at peking airport earlier for five days of talks in the chinese capital.

political observers believe kissinger will discuss the following issues with chinese leaders:

firstly, the setting up of a semi-official u.s. representation in peking as a first step towards the establishment of diplomatic relations.

secondly, the international reorientation in south east asia and the far east following the vietnam cease-fire.

thirdly, the international conference on vietnam scheduled to open in paris on february 26. peking, observers believe, favours the u.s. and north vietnam for chairmanship of the conference and opposes suggestions u.n. secretary general kurt waldheim should take up this post.

- 1 -

fourthly, the korean situation, peking fully supports
the north korean demand that u.s. troops should be
withdrawn from south korea and the u.n. commission on
korea should be abolished.

sullivan

phnom penh, feb. 15 (ap) -- u.s. undersecretary of
state william h. sullivan arrived in phnom penh thursday
for talks with cambodian leaders and american embassy
officials about the current situation in cambodia and
attempts to end its three-year war.

sullivan, the state department's southeast asia
specialist, and his assistant david engle, of the
national security council, arrived in saigon tuesday
from hongkong after visiting hanoi with president
nixon's top peacemaker, henry kissinger.

after their arrival at suburban pochentong airport,
sullivan and engle went to the presidential palace,
chamcar mon, where they were met by lon nol's aide de
camp, brig. gen. chhim chhuon.

they then went to lon nol's residence for an hour-
long meeting with the president, premier hang thun hak,
and u.s. ambassador emory c. swank.

the talks presumably encompassed kissinger's activities
as well as the scheduled feb. 26 international peace
conference in paris and its implication for cambodia.

kheam reth told newsmen cambodia was not sending a
delegate to the session.

other matters that sullivan, lon nol and swank were
expected to touch upon were u.s. air support of cambodian
troops and the quarter-billion dollar u.s. aid program
to cambodia.

phnom penh, feb. 15 (ap) -- information minister
kheam reth told a press conference thursday the government
had no plans to call special elections with the
participation of cambodian communist guerrillas to form
a new coalition government.

"we have not found anyone (within the khmer government) that wanted to have such elections," kheam reth said.

"the 1954 geneva accords said cambodia must have
elections," he said. "we did not have a national assembly
then but we have one now so there is no need for a new
election."

- 2 -

kheam reth was the second government official to
squelch the coalition rumor which was published earlier
this week by a foreign news agency (not ap).

wednesday the special presidential adviser for
reunification, in tam, told the associated press he long
ago had proposed such an election as the only way to
bring his countrymen back together.

but in tam said he did not expect president Lon not
to accept his proposal.

Laos

by robert kaylor

vientiane, feb. 15 (upi) -- assistant secretary of
state william h. sullivan arrived here this afternoon
on a mission to brief indochina leaders on white
house adviser henry kissinger's talk xxx.

sullivan landed in his t-39 executive jet at
vientiane's wattay airport in mid-afternoon following a
lunch meeting in phnom penh with cambodian president lon
not.

the state department official drove off with godley
for meetings with u.s. officials that preceded the dinner
session with souvanna. he was scheduled to depart friday
afternoon for bangkok, where he was to meet with
thailand's prime minister thanom Kittikachorn before
returning to the united states.

cambodia

by sylvana foa

phnom penh, feb. 15 (upi) -- khmer rouge forces
thursday intensified their attacks on government posi-
tions from the provincial capital of kompong cham to
angkor wat.

field reports said the heaviest combat centered
around highway 1 and the mekong river naval base in
neak luong.

the situation on highway 1 became so serious
thursday morning that newsmen were barred from the
area.

military sources said the communists are relent-
lessly bombarding government front lines at dey eth
and appear to be preparing for a massive push north.

further south of highway 1, khmer rouge gunners

-3-

maintained thursday their heavy artillery bombardment
of neak luong.

elsewhere in cambodia, the high command reported
fierce fighting on highway 4, as khmer rouge units
attacked government outposts 33 miles southwest of
phnom penh.

the command also reported skirmishes and heavy
artillery bombardment throughout the southwestern
provinces of prey veng and svay rieng.

## laos

by rober kaylor

vientiane, feb. 15 (upi) -- prime minister
souvanna phouma sought today to find common ground
for an acceptable cease-fire formula for laos, with
government sources reporting that agreement was
yet to be worked out on key political issues.

souvanna met for about an hour this morning with
communist pathet lao negotiator phoumi vongvichit and
interior minister pheng phongsavan.

the two officials have been meeting daily for the
past week in private negotiating sessions.

the prime minister scheduled a special cabinet
meeting friday morning, apparently to discuss the most
recent developments in the negotiations.

the sources said that souvanna, who has depended on
u.s. aid and military support to keep his government
from suffering defeat was being urged by american
officials to sign an agreement. at the same time his
military commanders and rightist elements of the
government were against what they regarded as
unacceptable concessions, the sources said.

according to the sources, military leaders and
rightists were urging souvanna to hold out for a
guarantee of u.s. air power to protect against all
violations of a cease-fire.

they said the pathet lao were demanding a flat ban
against any continuing american air involvement,
including reconnaissance flights, presumably as part
of a cease-fire agreement. u.s. warplanes have been
continuing air strikes in laos on a daily basis since
the jan. 28 vietnam cease-fire.

government sources said that going into this
morning's talks, agreement had still not been reached

- 4 -

on how the two sides would be named in a cease-fire document, with the pathet lao continuing in its refusal to permit reference to souvanna's regime as the government of Laos.

disagreements were also reported over a timetable for the withdrawal of foreign troops and over the powers of a consultative political council that would oversee formation of a new coalition government under the 1962 geneva agreement on Laos.

souvanna's government is said to be seeking a withdrawal in 30 to 45 days, while the communists want a 90 day period.

the withdrawal would apply to u.s. advisory and support personnel, several thousand thai troops fighting on the side of the government and the estimated 65,000 north vietnamese troops in the country.

there were reports the pathet lao had agreed to accept souvanna as the head of a 16-member cabinet that would consist of four communist, four rightist, and eight neutralist seats divided between supporters of souvanna and of the pathet lao.

the makeup of the government was one of the lists of at least nine issues that had been under discussion before agreement could be reached on a cease-fire.

## kissinger

tokyo, feb. 15 (afp) -- the government will greet dr. henry kissinger u.s. presidential national security adviser, with mixed feelings of expectation and anxiety when he visits tokyo next monday, informed sources said today.

dr. kissinger will meet prime minister kakuei tanaka and foreign minister masayoshi ohira in tokyo en route home from his trip to hanoi and peking.

government leaders believe dr. kissinger will brief them on his talks with north vietnamese and chinese leaders, and also on the successful paris peace talks on vietnam.

japanese leaders also want to exchange views with dr. kissinger over the future of asia following the vietnam ceasefire.

these consultations will be very useful for the government, the informed sources said.

but some officials, they said, are on guard against

- 5 -

attempts by the u.s. to have japan extend economic aid
to south vietnam while concentrating its own aid on
north vietnam.

the u.s. built an official economic channel with
north vietnam ahead of japan when dr. kissinger agreed
with hanoi leaders to create a joint economic committee
between the two countries.

on the strength of this, the u.s. might apply pressure
on japan to extend economic assistance to south vietnam
just as it applied pressure on this country in the
latest international currency crisis, the sources said.

meanwhile, it was reported that the foreign ministry
will send to hanoi later this month mr. wasuke miyake,
chief of the first southeast asia division, for various
talks with north vietnamese officials.

market

tokyo, feb. 15 (upi) -- the u.s. dollar suffered
further depreciation on the second day yen floating as
exporters continued to dump their dollar holdings on
the exchange markets here today.

market sources said that at one point the dollar went
down to 265 yen, but the bank of japan intervened to keep
it around 265.50 yen, a 16.01 per cent dollar
depreciation.

a total of 74,160,000 dollars changed hands with the
central bank taking in 45 million of them during the
morning session, the sources said.

the central bank intervened wednesday almost from the
opening of the market to keep the dollar value at 271.20
yen, a 13.5 per cent market appreciation for the
japanese currency.

asean

by allan reditt

kuala lumpur, feb. 15, reuter -- foreign ministers
of the five-member association of south east asian
nations (asean) held talks here today on the political
prospects for south east asia following the end of the
vietnam war.

the closed-door meeting under the chairmanship of
malaysia's deputy prime minister tun dr. ismail discussed
how the new development in vietnam affected their policy

- 6 -

of having south east asia declared a zone of peace and
neutrality to be guaranteed by china, the soviet union
and the united states.

following the first session Indonesia's foreign
minister said: "we have no differences of opinion.
everything has gone very well."

Philippines foreign secretary Mr. Carlos Romulo said
the meeting had been "very fruitful and constructive"
and Singapore's foreign minister Mr. S. Rajaratnam
concurred with Mr. Malik that there had been no dis-
agreements.

the thai delegation was led by the deputy foreign
minister general Chartchai Chunhawan.

ASEAN

kuala lumpur, feb. 15 (upi) -- leaders of the
association of southeast asian nations (asean) said
jointly today the indochina peace settlement might mark
the beginning of southeast asia as a zone of neutrality.

In a communique issued after a conference among
asean members -- Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, the
Philippines and Thailand -- the five ministers said the
recent Paris Agreement leading to the Vietnam ceasefire
was similar to an Asean initiative.

the communique said the ministers were "gratified
that the (Paris) Agreement contained elements that are
in many respects similar to the principles enunciated
in the Kuala Lumpur declaration and that this might
signify the beginning of the realization of a Southeast
ASEAN zone of peace, freedom and neutrality free from
any form or manner of interference from outside powers."

the ministers agreed to convene an "Asian forum" at
an undetermined future date.

the forum proposal was put forward by Romulo in
conjunction with Thailand which also sought a meeting
of Asian heads of state to discuss their future after the
Indochina War.

no venue was mentioned for the meeting but the
communique said it would embrace "all Southeast Asian
nations."

the ministers also agreed to allow membership in
ASEAN to expand "at the opportune time to cover all the
countries in Southeast Asia."

they said developments were proceeding so that more

-7-

countries could come into asean "soon."

the communique dwelt at length on the encouraging chances for peace contained in the paris agreement ending the vietnam war.

it said asean countries will "urge the parties to the conflict to agree as quickly as possible to cease fires and to honor strictly the terms and spirit of the agreement."

the communique said asean "took the view that the neighboring countries of southeast asia should participate in whatever ways possible toward the rehabilitation and reconstruction throughout vietnam and the rest of indochina."

it said asean stood ready, too, to help in the rebuilding of the indochina countries and would ask a special asean committee to study possible assistance.

the communique said asean was gratified that one of its members, Indonesia, was taking an active part in the vietnam ceasefire.

at a press conference later, Malaysian deputy prime minister Ismail said the asean ministers discussed possible recognition of the north vietnam government.

Ismail said he could not divulge what was said about recognizing north vietnam.

"The question of recognition of states is a sovereignty of each nation," he said.

asked if Malaysia would recognize Hanoi soon, Ismail said "I also regard patience as a virtue."

he declined to elaborate on any of the points contained in the asean communique.

asean

kuala Lumpur, feb. 15 (afp) -- foreign ministers of five south east asian countries meeting here this morning were understood to have agreed on the setting up of a coordinating committee to pool their aid for post-war reconstruction in vietnam.

they were also believed to have agreed on two other important issues: (1) the holding of a conference of all south east asian countries to discuss regional cooperation in the future and (2) the sending of observers to the vietnam conference in paris during the last week of this month.

- 8 -

## u.s. air force

by Surin Ruangdej

Bangkok, Feb. 15 (AP) -- Thailand's chief of staff of the supreme command air chief marshal Dawee Chullasapya said Thursday the U.S. air force headquarters in Indonesia is being transferred from Saigon to Thailand.

Dawee made the statement at an impromptu talk with newsmen after a meeting of the Thai national legislative assembly.

He said the 7th Air Force headquarters is being moved to Nakorn Phanom Air Base on the Mekong River, 365 miles northeast of Bangkok.

Premier Field Marshal Thanom Kittikachorn and U.S. ambassador to Thailand Leonard Unger had agreed during discussions last December on the transfer of the 7th Air Force headquarters immediately after a cease-fire.

Thanom said there will be no increase in the number of Air Force personnel in the country. Air Force units presently at Nakorn Phanom will be moved out and replaced by the 7th Air Force headquarters.

There are about 49,000 American servicemen in Thailand stationed at seven Air Base.

The Thai chief of staff of the supreme command said only Air Force men have moved to Nakorn Phanom. "No ground troops and no Air planes," he told newsmen.

He said the headquarters move was a precautionary measure for keeping peace in South Vietnam and later in Laos and Cambodia.

The U.S. government has been using Nakorn Phanom as the chief rescue base in the Indochina War. The base 65 miles from the north Vietnamese border, is one of the smallest bases in the country, but considered one of the most comfortable by Air Force men. About 4,000 U.S. airmen are presently stationed at Nakorn Phanom.

## dismiss

Islamabad, Feb. 15 (UPI) -- President Ali Bhutto has dismissed the governors of the rebellion-plagued provinces of Baluchistan and north western frontier, the presidency announced today.

The announcement early today said Baluchistan's ghaus Bakhsh Bizenjo and north west frontier province governor Arab Sikander Khan Khalil were fired Wednesday.

According to identical letters of dismissal handed both the governors the President terminated their

-9-

appointments because "recent developments in the country make it imperative that i have a governor in whom i have full confidence and who faithfully carries out my directions."

in the letter bhutto expressed the hope that the two outgoing governors "will appreciate that considering the kind of situation facing the country, the larger interests of the nation must take precedence over all matters."

bhutto said the two had not carried out directions given them at the time of their appointments in April 1972, but did not into the details of those instructions.

"recent developments in the country make it imperative that i have a governor in whom i have complete confidence and who faithfully carries out my directions," he said.

"therefore i have decided to terminate your appointment with immediate effect and appoint a new governor."

## governors

rawalpindi, feb. 15, reuter -- president zulfikar ali bhutto has sacked two of pakistan's four provincial governors and troops are reported guarding key installations in the two capitals of the two provinces.

the two governors are leaders of the national awami party (nap), which is opposed to president bhutto's peoples progressive party (ppp). observers here felt a head-on confrontation between the two organisations now appeared inevitable.

the president later named two new governors in the provinces -- baluchistan and the north west frontier.

sardar akbar bugti, a tribal chieftain, was appointed to succeed mir ghaus bakhsh bizenjo in baluchistan and mr aslam khattack, speaker of the provincial assembly in the north west frontier, province, to take over from arab sikander khan.

yesterday begum raana liaquat ali khan, widow of pakistan's first prime minister who was assassinated in 1951, was sworn in as governor of sind province after mir rasul baksh talpur quit the job.

- 10 -

mideast & afrika

indochina--binh

algiers, feb. 15, reuter -- talks between the viet
cong and saigon on the political future of south vietnam
"cannot open immediately," madame nguyen thi binh,
foreign minister in the provisional revolutionary
government (prg) of south vietnam, said here
today.

following four sessions of preparatory talks in
paris, "we have not yet reached total agreement," she
told reporters after flying in for a three-day visit
to algeria.

"that means the consultations cannot yet begin immediately," she added.

mme binh said there were still difficulties in
application of the clauses of the month-old paris peace
agreement on the liberation of prisoners.

the saigon administration "has not applied strictly
the clauses of the agreement" on that subject, she charged.

in a prepared statement earlier, mme binh said her
visit here xxx "at a decisive time for real and
lasting peace in vietnam."

she thanked algeria for its "firm and unconditional
support."

her three-day visit is believed to be her first
trip abroad since the paris peace agreement was signed.

mme binh was welcomed by foreign minister abdelaziz
bouteflika, with whom she will hold talks expected to
centre on the future of vietnam and possible algerian
assistance for its reconstruction.

the viet cong leader is expected to have a meeting
with president houari boumedienne and to elaborate the
prg's stand in a speech at a dinner to be given in
her honour tomorrow night by mr bouteflika.

she is scheduled to give a press conference
before returning to paris on sunday.

moharrer

beirut, feb. 15 (afp) -- the beirut press today
reported word of a meeting in paris soon between

- 11 -

egyptian presidential envoy hafez ismail and u.s.
presidential adviser henry kissinger.

the pro-egyptian daily al moharrer quoted diplomatic
sources as saying that the two presidential advisers
on security affairs would meet in paris after a meeting
in London between dr. ismail and king hussein of jordan.

according to the sources cited by al moharrer,
king hussein would stop in London on his way home and
brief dr. ismail on his american talks.

the cairo daily al ahram has reported this week
that dr. ismail was expected to stop in paris after
London.

dr. kissinger is awaited in paris soon to prepare
the opening on feb. 26 of the international conference
on south vietnam.

al moharrer commented today that a kissinger-
ismail meeting would be the first official contact
at high level between the united states and egypt
in many months and could create a "climate favo-
rable to initiatives toward settlement of the middle
east crisis".

frangie -- communique

beirut, feb. 15 (afp) -- egypt and lebanon are
convinced that peace in the middle east should be
based on law and justice, israeli withdrawal from
occupied territory and safeguard of the palestinian
people's rights a joint egyptian-lebanese communique
said today.

it was issued in cairo and beirut at the end of a
three-day visit by Lebanese president Soliman frangie to
cairo for talks with president Anwar Sadat.

the communique said: "Lebanon and Egypt will
continue and coordinate their efforts to reinforce
brotherly links between brother Arab countries and
mobilise all their potential to face the Israeli
enemy which threatens the whole Arab nation".

president frangie expressed his appreciation of the
determination of the Egyptian people and armed forces
as well as for the sacrifices Egypt was making to
liberate its territories, serve the Arab cause and
preserve the rights of the Palestinian people.

the talks between the two presidents, the communique

- 12 -

continued, which dealt with arab problems in general and the latest developments in the palestinian cause in particular as well as bilateral relations between egypt and lebanon were took place in an atmosphere of brotherhood and frankness and there was a complete identity of views between the parties on all subjects.

president sadat emphasised the positive and constructive role which lebanon was playing in the service of arab causes in general and the palestinian cause in particular.

president frangie invited president sadat to make an official visit to lebanon.

the invitation was accepted, the communique concluded, and the date is to be fixed later.

## dogfight wrapup
by arthur max

tel aviv, feb. 15 (ap) -- the middle east quiet exploded on two fronts thursday as Israeli and egyptian warplanes battled high over the gulf of suez and syrian and Israeli gunners exchanged artillery fire far to the north.

the Israelis claimed knocking down one soviet-built mig21 of the egyptian air force. Cairo said it downed one Israeli jet in the dogfight high in wintry skies above the gulf that separates the two hostile sides.

the military command in tel aviv said no Israeli plane was hit however.

it was the first aerial clash between Israel and Egypt in eight months and only the second since the U.S.-sponsored Middle East cease-fire took effect August 1970.

about an hour after the dogfight, the Israelis said Syrian artillerymen opened fire on Israeli positions in the occupied Golan Heights, about 324 miles -- 540 kms -- to the north.

some of the shells landed near the Nahal Golan paramilitary settlement, a spokesman added. Israeli gunners fired back.

no Israeli casualties or damage were reported.

Damascus claimed two Israeli tanks were destroyed against no Syrian casualties or damage. Tel Aviv denied the Syrian claim.

- 13 -

there were different versions of the dog fight, too. Cairo said six Israeli planes penetrated Egyptian air space over the gulf of Suez and "our planes intercepted and engaged the enemy aircraft, hitting one of them". the word 'hit' means shot down in arab military jargon.

the Israelis said their planes were on a reconnaissance flight over the gulf when jumped by the Egyptians.

### Congolese

Brazzaville, feb. 15 (afp) -- all Congolese army personnel on leave have been ordered to rejoin their units immediately.

the order went out last night over Brazzaville radio, which broadcast a communique from the chief of staff several times.

On Tuesday, head of state Major Marien Ngouabi claimed that "something abnormal is stirring" and warned the army and Labour party that treason would be "dangerous".

### Border

Damascus, feb. 15 (afp) -- Syria and Iraq settled most of their border differences at a three-day meeting this week, it has been announced here.

the talks, which wound up yesterday at el Qamishliye near the Iraqi border in northeastern Syria, were conducted throughout in a climate of "brotherhood, cordiality and understanding", a communique said last night.

### Students

Cairo, feb. 15, reuter -- Egyptian students, university authorities and government officials hold a series of meetings today in an effort to restore peace after four successive days of violent clashes between police and student demonstrators.

preliminary contacts have been held over the past 24 hours between student representatives, university authorities and leaders of the Arab Socialist Union, Egypt's only political party, to study peace terms and the introduction of democratic practices inside the campus.

however, all efforts so far have failed to induce students to call off their demonstrations.

- 14 -

europe

souvanna

paris, feb. 15 (up1) -- Laotian premier prince souvanna phouma said in an interview published today he hopes that a cease-fire with the communist pathet lao could be signed today.

"I hope that one will be able to sign, tomorrow Thursday, the agreement ending the Laotian conflict," souvanna said in an interview with the newspaper Le Figaro recorded in Vientiane Wednesday.

souvanna said he was waiting for a cabled reply from Sam Neua, the Pathet Lao headquarters, on whether the Pathet Lao will accept his government's proposals over the remaining differences.

the premier said the draft agreement refers to the Laotian belligerents as the government of Vientiane led by Souvanna and patriotic forces, meaning Pathet Lao. Souvanna said the problem of a future Laotian government would be settled through consultations between the two sides within one or two months of signing the agreement.

Souvanna said both his government and the Pathet Lao have made a number of concessions. He said the accord will not make a specific mention of U.S. bombings, whose halt has been demanded by the Pathet Lao but will merely mention air bombings "whichever they may be."

"We have agreed not to mention any more North Vietnamese troops. The final text will stipulate the withdrawal of foreign forces, without specifying which forces they are," Souvanna said.

"This agreement does not only contain a cease-fire but also clauses about a political settlement. That's much better," the premier said. He said the agreement would be signed by phen Phongsavan for the Vientiane government and Phoumi Vongvichit for the Pathet Lao.

vietnam talks

by arthur l. gavshon

London, feb. 15 (ap) -- East-West differences emerged Thursday over the coming Vietnam peace talks. Communist

- 15 -

countries are objecting to united nations secretary-
general kurt waldheim as conference chairman.

diplomats of countries due to attend the paris
meeting beginning feb. 26. reported:

-- the united states, backed by most of the other five non-communist participants, suggested informally that waldheim, as the only true neutral, should preside over the conference. this would imply, as it was meant to, that the world body should have an active and continuing role in the peacekeeping process.

-- north vietnam, similarly supported by most of the other five communist participants, countered by proposing the chairmanship should be shared on alternate days by the delegates of hanoi and washington. this would avoid, among other things, imposing an undue strain not only on waldheim personally but on the united nations itself.

the issue, along with other problems of conference
organization has yet to be resolved.

the informants, meantime, reported talk among the
13 participants of following up the peacemaking con-
ference in paris with another parley -- one to be
devoted exclusively to the reconstruction of vietnam
and other parts of indochina.

in this second projected conference, a big role is
envisaged for japan, which most countries think
could and should play a major part in the work of
indochinese rehabilitation. japan has been miffed,
sources said, about being excluded from the paris talks.

indochina - binh

paris, feb. 15, reuter -- mme nguyen thi binh,
foreign minister of the viet cong's provisional revo-
lutionary government (prg), left here today for
algiers to pay a four-day official visit to algeria.

asked before boarding here plane when a top-level
political conference would take place in saigon between
members of the south vietnam government and the prg,
as called for in the paris peace agreement, mme. binh
said she hoped this would occur as soon as possible.

but, she added, the four preliminary meetings between
viet cong and saigon representatives in paris to
prepare this meeting "have only produced meager
results".

she laid the blame for this on saigon, saying its

- 16 -

attitude during these sessions was linked with its attitude on the battlefield, alluding to the fighting which has followed the january 28 ceasefire.

during her stay in algeria, mme. binh will have talks with president houari boumedienne and other members of his government.

## indochina -- soviet

moscow, feb. 15, reuter -- soviet premier alexei kosygin today pledged soviet support to south vietnamese communists in their struggle for "a peaceful, independent, democratic and neutral south vietnam," tass news agency reported.

the soviet leader met in the kremlin today with viet cong ambassador dang quang minh, who thanked him for the soviet union's support.

mr kosygin warmly congratulated south vietnamese communists on "the great victory gained over the forces of imperialist aggression," tass said.

he told the envoy the soviet union would continue backing south vietnamese "patriotic and progressive forces of the country in their just struggle for implementation of the signed agreements, for a peaceful, independent, democratic and neutral south vietnam," tass added.

## indochina-contingent

vienna, feb. 15, reuter -- a third hungarian contingent left budapest today for saigon to join the international peace-keeping force in vietnam, the hungarian news agency mti reported.

## indochina-parliament

luxembourg, feb. 15, reuter -- the eec commission is engaged in drawing up proposals for common market food aid to indochina following the vietnam peace agreement.

this was revealed today by eec commissioner ralf dahrendorf at a meeting of the european parliament here.

"in consultation with the international red cross, we are studying the needs of the countries involved and means for the effective distribution of aid", professor dahrendorf declared.

professor dahrendorf was speaking on behalf of the

- 17 -

commissioner in charge of external affairs, sir christopher
soames, who is currently in washington for talks with
u. s. administration officials.

his remarks came during a debate on a resolution
calling on common market bodies and member states
"to investigate as soon as possible the feasibility
of a comprehensive and effective coordinated
contribution" to a programme of reconstruction in
indochina.

the resolution, which was passed unanimously, said
a reconstruction and development programme, preferably
under the auspices of the united nations, was desirable
"for the consolidation of a peaceful society" in
southeast asia.

professor dahrendorf said the eec commission,
which formulates proposals to be put to the common
market's decision-making council of ministers, welcomed
the parliament's desire for effective aid measures.

"the commission will do everything in its power so
that the community can aid the victims of this terrible
war", he pledged.

treaty

by george vine

bonn, feb. 15, reuter -- west german chancellor willy
brandt today asked parliament to ratify the pact signed
with east germany last december and stressed it had not
sealed the partition of germany.

the question of what would happen to the german
nation had been left open, herr brandt declared.

introducing the controversial treaty in parliament,
the chancellor also said that his "good neighbour"
policy towards communist eastern europe was already bearing
tangible fruit.

herr brandt said the east-west talks on european
security in helsinki and the parallel talks on troops
reductions now going on in vienna would not have been
possible if west germany had not signed the series of
"good neighbour" treaties with moscow, warsaw and
east berlin.

herr brandt admitted today that the pact with east
berlin was not perfect and was of necessity a compromise.

he denied that it sealed the partition of germany
but added: "history has changed the political positions.
the fact is today there is no short cut to german unity

- 18 -

and we germans can no longer loosen ourselves from
our respective european affiliations. so far as we in
particular are concerned, nor do we want to."

herr brandt said that in times past, many people had
feared that a third world war would break out over
germany. the east german treaty enabled the super
powers and the states of europe "to leave the cold war
behind them."

peterson

bonn, feb. 16 (ap) -- president nixon's special
advisor for trade, political and security matters met
west german officials thursday to open the bonn section
of a swing through west europe with crucial significance
for the common market's future relations with washington.

former u. s. secretary of commerce peter g. peterson,
who arrived late wednesday accompanied by a top-level
to man delegation, conferred with economics minister
hans friderichs only two days after a u. s. -european-
japanese agreement produced a temporary cease-fire in
the battle for world monetary stability.

a bonn spokesman said after the meeting that both
sides are agreed on the need for wider steps to stabilize
the non-communist world's currencies and trade and remove
new threats to the already strained relations between
washington and its partners.

friderichs told peterson bonn "will support libera-
lizing as far as possible the foreign trade relations
between the european community and the u. s. a. as
well as non-eec countries," the official statement said.

friderich's ministry said both sides came out in
support for "free world trade, influenced as little as
possible by restrictions."

currency-germany

frankfurt, feb. 15, reuter -- west german finance
minister helmut schmidt said here today the nine
countries of the european economic community (eec)
had agreed in principle that a joint float of eec
currencies against the united states dollar could be
introduced if the latest currency crisis were to repeat
itself.

he told a press conference after attending a meeting
of the council of the central bank here that britain and
france had accepted this.

- 19 -

devalue-krone

stockhom, feb. 15 (ap) -- the swedish government decided wednesday night to devalue the swedish krone five per cent, the swedish news agency reported thursday, quoting official sources.

the decision means that the swedish efforts to achieve a unified nordic line in currency realignments have failed.

denmark and norway reportedly have decided not to devalue their currencies but to let them remain unchanged.

kim

bonn, feb. 15 (afp) -- visiting south korean foreign minister kim yong-shik today ruled out any peace negotiations with north korea at the present stage.

speaking in an interview with the west-german news agency dpa mr kim said he thought the time, had not come yet for inter-korean peace negotiations.

even before considering the possibility of political talks between the two koreas it was necessary to create a basis for mutual trust, he said.

what was of primary importance now was alleviating the burden of the division of the country for all koreans, he said.

mr. kim said an inter-korean dialogue for the normalization of relations between the pyongyang and seoul governments could be carried out in three stages.

in the first stage the six-month old inter-korean red cross talks on bringing together families scattered on the two sides of the 38th parallel would be continued.

then non-political talks could be started on bilateral trade and increased freedom of movement for people from both states.

only after these objectives have been achieved would it be possible to engage in purely political talks.

and in the meantime american troops must stay in south korea to guarantee its security, mr kim said.

the foreign minister emphasized west Germany's role in south korea as its first european trade partner.

south korea wants closer cooperation with west Germany and it would welcome west German investments. south korea is also seeking to establish close contacts with the european community, he said.

- 20 -

ambassador

paris, feb. 14 (afp) -- french foreign minister
maurice schumann today received indian ambassador
dwarkanath chatterjee who thanked the french government
for its increased aid to india which was raised to 200
million francs this year, an indian source said.

he also discussed the vietnam situation and the
international conference on vietnam which is to be held
in paris, and world trade and the dollar crisis.

mr. chatterjee informed schumann of progress in the
execution of the simla agreement between india and
pakistan.

america

rogers

washington, feb. 15 (afp) -- the international
conference on indo-china due to open in paris on feb. 26
should not last more than four or five days, secretary
of state william rogers said today.

he told a press conference that ceasefire violations
now going on in vietnam were only minor quarrels which
should not prevent the establishment of peace.

mr. rogers reaffirmed at the same time that the
united states was determined to continue its efforts to
facilitate a settlement of the israeli-arab conflict.
he insisted that his plan for a provisional agreement
on reopening the suez canal was not a draft settlement
but a first step towards an accord on the whole problem
in accordance with the united nations security council's
resolution number 242.

the secretary of state, in a wide-ranging review,
declared that the united states was not trying to link
the presence of american troops in europe with economic
problems that the united states and europe had to solve.

but he did admit the existence of a movement in
congress opposing the maintenance of the 300,000 u. s.
troops now in europe.

mr. rogers said the u.s. and north vietnam today
each sent invitations to the governments that are to
attend the paris conference.

- 21 -

he also said he thought a laotian ceasefire would
take place before the conference began.

on aid to north vietnam he hoped for international
co-operation to cover the whole region hit by the war.
he was sure that the u.s. congress would approve u.s.
participation in this joint effort.

as regards the middle east, the u.s. would play a
"very active" role in coming weeks with a view to a
negotiating process between israel and the arab coun-
tries. the u.s. was not preparing a new plan but sought
interim steps to a final solution. he thought a partial
solution would be easier between israel and egypt or
between israel and jordan.

on cuba, mr. rogers said the agreement on hijacking
did not herald a normalizing of relations between
washington and havana.

although the cuban attitude during negotiations had
been "constructive and businesslike", havana had not
ceased to be antagonistic towards the united states. he
pointed out that the agreement did not affect asylum
rights for political refugees.

"the right of asylum continues and will be honoured
by the united states," he said. he hoped similar hijacking
agreements could be signed with other countries, in
particular algeria.

turning to relations with europe, mr. rogers said
the maintenance of u.s. forces in europe and problems
between the u.s. and the european common market in the
economic and monetary fields, were not linked.

he said an early trade bill would aim at more
equitable world trade.

referring to the south asia treaty organisation
(seato), secretary of state rogers said this had not
lost its usefulness as a result of the vietnam settlement.
but certain programmes covered under the pact needed
revising.

the annual ministerial meetings might be held in
the united states during the u.n. general assembly
annual meeting.

rogers-china

washington, feb. 15 (ap) -- u.s. secretary of state
william p. rogers said thursday the time has not yet
come for the reduction of the small u.s. forces on
taiwan, although there has been a reduction of tension
in the region.

- 22 -

he told a news conference that as a result of the current visit of presidential security adviser Henry Kissinger to Peking "we have an expectation of increasing improvement in our relations with the peoples republic of China."

he also recalled that the Shanghai communique signed at the end of President Nixon's visit to China one year ago called for additional contacts between Washington and Peking.

he said that the U.S. expects these contacts to accelerate in the years ahead. he noted an improvement in trade relations has taken place and that there has been a sensible exchange of persons including a good number of Chinese in the U.S.

he said the U.S. hopes to continue such exchanges.

but when asked whether the U.S. was ready to reduce the number of forces it maintains on Taiwan, Rogers replied crisply, "it is too early to consider that."

he noted that the Shanghai communique said that as tensions were reduced, the U.S. would reduce its forces on Taiwan, but that time has not yet arrived. and he added that the U.S. has very few men on Taiwan.

## nixon-europe

Washington, Feb. 15 (ap) -- President Nixon said Thursday that the whole problem of U.S. relations with Europe, including mutual balanced force reductions and the level of American forces, will be under intense discussions within the administration.

Nixon made the comment to newsmen in the presence of the U.S. NATO commander, General Andrew Goodpaster before attending a meeting at the Pentagon with the joint chiefs of staff.

The President linked American credibility as an ally of European and Asian nations with the peace that had been achieved in Vietnam.

"Our failure there would have eroded and possibly destroyed their confidence in U.S. and enormously encouraged those who might have aggressive intentions toward us," Nixon said.

Goodpaster said that the effect of the Vietnam peace agreement had been to reinforce confidence in Europe toward the U.S.

Nixon said that he had referred to this year as the "year of Europe."

- 23 -

but that does not mean that the u.s. will not continue
its efforts to complete the settlement in southeast asia
and continue to develop its dialogue and relations with
the people's republic of china. and, of course, he said,
u.s. policy toward latin america will continue to be
important.

"but the year of europe becomes very important both
in the economic context which has been brought home by
the recent monetary crisis and in the national security
context," nixon said.

he said the mutual balanced force reduction is on
the agenda for this year, not only with u.s. allies but
also with the soviet union.

the european security conference is also on the
agenda, he noted.

kissinger-chou

washington, feb. 15 (afp) -- chinese premier chou
en-lai and special u.s. presidential security adviser
henry kissinger met for three and a half hours today,
the white house announced.

the talks dealt with the bettering of relations
between peking and washington and the asian situation
following the vietnam agreement, the announcement said.

nixon-cabinet

washington, feb. 15 (ap) -- president richard m.
nixon has called a friday meeting of his cabinet to
hear reports on southeast asia and the trade and monetary
situation, the white house said thursday.

press secretary ronald L. ziegler said vice presi-
dent spiro t. agnew will report to the cabinet on his
recent trip to eight southeast asian nations to discuss
postwar relations with their leaders.

u.s. secretary of the treasury george p. shultz also
will discuss the recent dollar devaluation decision and
other trade and monetary developments at the white house
gathering, ziegler said.

air

washington, feb. 15 (upi) -- the number of u.s.
air strikes in laos increased by almost 100 per day
last week "because of increased enemy activity," the
defense department said today.

- 24 -

a pentagon spokesman said the average for b52 and tactical fighter bomber strikes now is running about 380 missions per day. u.s. air strikes in cambodia continued at a level of "a few tens" of raids per day, he said.

maj. gen. daniel james, the spokesman, said all the missions were requested by the royal laotian government and the cambodian government.

despite "tentative ongoing negotiations" for a cease-fire in laos, james said that "because of increased enemy activity and further requests for assistance by the royal Lao government, the daily sorties average for this week has been up by about 100."

"the united states government continues to hope and expect that a cease-fire agreement will be achieved in laos," he said.

hijacking

washington, feb. 15 (afp) -- secretary of state william rogers today signed an agreement with the cuban government to combat hijacking of planes and boats between the two countries.

the czechoslovakian charge d'affaires in the united states, jaroslav zantrovsky, represented the cuban government at the signing ceremony here. it was signed simultaneously in havana, with swiss ambassador sivio masnata acting for the u.s.

the first of the agreement's four sections provides that anybody who seizes or hijacks a plane or boat registered in one of the two countries will be either sent back to that country or will be prosecuted under the laws of the country where he has fled.

negotiations for the agreement started nov. 25 and were carried out through the mediation of the swiss embassy in havana.

-- end --

- 25 -

no. 048

saturday, february 17, 1973

asia

kissinger

by james pringle

peking, feb. 16, reuter -- u.s. special envoy henry kissinger today begins serious talks with chinese leaders, headed by premier chou en-lai on the international situation in the post vietnam war era.

the agenda for today's talks is believed to cover the forthcoming paris conference on vietnam, the situation in cambodia and laos and the question of u.s. troop withdrawals from taiwan, the american presence in south korea and developing relations between china and the united states.

most of these subjects are thought likely to have been touched on last night during a three and a half hour review session between dr kissinger and his senior staff members and mr chou, foreign minister chi peng-fei and vice foreign minister chiao kuan-hoa at peking's great hall of the people.

a more relaxed keynote for dr kissinger's fifth trip to the chinese capital and his second since the visit of president nixon in february last year was struck on the special envoy's arrival by air from hong kong, when he exchanged breezy waves with mr chi and mr chiao and bounded down the steps from his presidential boeing 707 to greet the welcoming chinese officials.

- 1 -

the signing of the vietnam ceasefire agreement last month has removed a major obstacle to the improvement of sino-american relations and paved the way for constructive discussions between the two sides. observers believe.

members of dr kissinger's party were thought likely to be meeting separately today with chinese officials to discuss further cultural, scientific, journalistic and sports contacts between the two countries and possible official american presence in peking before the year's end that stops short of formal mutual diplomatic recognition, dr kissinger is also thought to have brought with him a pledge to reduce the american troop presence in taiwan.

### indochina-sullivan

bangkok, feb. 16, reuter -- mr. william sullivan, senior aide of u.s. peace negotiator dr. henry kissinger, arrived here today to brief thai leaders on the latest indochina situation.

mr sullivan, deputy assistant secretary of state for east asia and pacific affairs, landed in a u.s. military jet from vientiane at 1400 local (0700 gmt) at don muang airport.

mr sullivan drove straight to bangkok for a meeting with american ambassador to thailand leonard unger and did not speak to reporters.

an american embassy spokesman said mr. sullivan would meet thai leaders tomorrow to report on dr kissinger's discussions with north vietnamese leaders in hanoi.

saigon, feb. 16 (ap) -- the chief spokesman for the north vietnamese delegation said friday that 20 american prisoners of war will be released in hanoi saturday or sunday.

asked specifically when the u.s. pows would be freed, bui tin told the associated press: "perhaps tomorrow and if not the day after."

tin said there are still some technical problems to be worked out. he did not specify what they are, but they did not appear to be major problems.

a subcommission of the four-party joint military peace-keeping commission met friday to work on the problems.

- 2 -

the commission includes representatives of the united
states, north and south vietnam, and the viet cong.

tin said teams of the international commission of
control and supervision and the joint military commission
would leave for hanoi saturday to be on hand to observe
the pow release as required under provisions of the
peace agreement signed in paris jan. 27.

meanwhile, a scheduled meeting friday morning of the
chiefs of the delegations was cancelled when the senior
representatives of the u.s. and south vietnamese sides
did not show up.

U.S. spokesman said that the senior american
representative, maj. gen. gilbert h. woodward, was
indisposed but that his illness was not serious. the
spokesman said the deputy, brig. gen. john a.
wickham jr. went in woodward's place with full authority
to act on any matters.

there was no explanation from the south vietnamese
side for the absence of their senior representative,
Lt. gen. du quoc dong.

in the absence of dong, south vietnam was represented
by brig. gen. pham hoa hiep.

the deputy chiefs of the four sides met at 11 a.m.

tin said that Lt. gen. tran van tra, the chief viet
cong delegate, protested the absence of the senior
american and south vietnamese representatives.

tra said the communist side was not informed in
advance of woodward's illness and only learned of it
friday morning when wickham showed up in his place and
announced that woodward was not feeling well.

tin said tra protested that the absence of the chief
u.s. and south vietnamese delegates was calculated in
advance to lower the level of the conference and
interferes seriously with the normal work of the
military peacekeeping commission.

tin reported that the senior north vietnamese
representative, maj. gen. le quang hoa, also "protested
against the other side for their bad faith."

"we went to this morning's conference with the intention
of solving some pressing problems," said tin.

Laos

vientiane, feb. 16 (UPI) -- efforts to reach a
cease-fire in Laos hit another stumbling block today

-3-

when prime minister souvanna phouma was unable to win cabinet acceptance for areas of agreement worked out so far with the communist pathet lao, according to government sources.

government sources said souvanna was unable to get agreement from rightist members of the government and military hard-liners in a cabinet meeting held at mid-day. the meeting followed a session this morning between the prime minister and deputy premier leum insixiengmay, a spokesman for the rightist and army leaders.

following souvanna's unsuccessful efforts, his personal representative in the private cease-fire talks, interior minister pheng phongsavan, met again with pathet lao negotiator phoumi vongvichit.

the two officials have met each day this week. souvanna has also taken a personal hand in the negotiations, but some government sources said that in light of the difficulties within the cabinet the private talks appeared to be back almost at the point where they had started a week ago.

the spokesman for the pathet lao, permanent representative soth phetrasy, told newsmen this afternoon at vientiane's wattay airport that his side made "important concessions" in the negotiations and that now it was up to the government side.

soth said he did not know whether further negotiating sessions would be held over the weekend, which coincides with a three-day national buddhist holiday. he said the two sides were agreed "in principle" to hold the regular formal session of the laos peace talks next tuesday.

the pathet lao spokesman said that while some matters had been worked out at the negotiations, a number of important issues remained to be solved.

according to government sources, souvanna had found himself under conflicting pressure in the negotiations.

they said the prime minister is being urged by u.s. officials to get an agreement before the international meeting on vietnam in paris on feb. 28. hard-liners in the government and army, meanwhile, are bitterly opposed to political concessions and want firm guarantees of u.s. airpower to protect against all violations of a cease-fire.

it was understood that going into today's cabinet

- 4 -

meeting a compromise agreement had been worked out
with the pathet lao to solve the problem of how the
two sides would be named in an agreement. the communist
have refused to permit reference to souvanna's regime
as the government of laos.

there were also reports the communists had agreed to
accept souvanna as the head of an interim cabinet
made up of equal numbers of right wingers, communists,
pro-souvanna neutralists and pro-communist neutralists.
right-wing government members were reported opposed
to the agreement.

a list of at least nine issues are involved in the
private negotiations, but some government sources
described the question of names and the representation
in the government as major ones that had to be disposed
of before a cease-fire could take place. some of the
remaining issues could be worked out in continuing
talks after the guns fell silent, they said.

indochina-minister

phnom penh, feb. 16, reuter -- cambodian minister
long boret has left for paris to keep watch on the 12-
party international guarantee conference on vietnam
there later this month, official sources said today.

the minister, who left yesterday without any announ-
cement was accompanied by a small staff.

pows-medical

clark air base, philippines, feb. 16 (ap) -- most
u.s. war prisoners returned from north vietnam in "real
good" condition and appear to have been well cared
for, the doctor in charge of their medical treatment
reported friday.

col. john w. ord, commander of the clark air base
hospital where examinations have been given to the 142
pows brought from north vietnamese and viet cong prisons
on monday, said his evaluation of the men "applies
to their mental conditions and their physical condi-
tions."

their care in north vietnam "must have been good,"
he said, and the men apparently had been fed adequately,
although they did not get "some of the things we take
for granted as normal for our diet."

- 5 -

all but 20 of the prisoners were placed on normal diets immediately upon their return and most have been eating three or four meals a day, he added.

thais

bangkok, feb. 16 (upi) -- thailand has withdrawn its last military unit of 38 personnel from south vietnam, thus ending six years of involvement in the war, a government announcement said thursday.

the announcement said "no more military personnel shall be sent to assist the south vietnamese government after this pullout."

at the peak of thailand's involvement there were more than 10,000 armed soldiers fighting alongside south vietnamese, south korean and american troops.

thailand has an estimated 11 battalions in laos but these are volunteers and are not described officially as government forces.

asean

kuala lumpur, feb. 16, reuter -- indonesian foreign minister mr. adam malik said today he would like to see aid to war-torn vietnam starting as soon as possible.

talking to reporters before leaving for jakarta after yesterday's one-day foreign ministers of the association of south east asian nations (asean) conference on post vietnam war policy he said asean had yet to agree on appropriate machinery for channeling aid.

but he envisaged that the economic commission for asia and the far east (ecafe) or the asian development bank would be the most likely channels unless asean formed its own clearing house.

japan could also channel its aid jointly with asean or contribute individually, he told a questioner.

indonesia, he said, was ready to help in contacts between the other four asean members --thailand, the philippines, Singapore and Malaysia --and hanoi but he emphasised that as yet they had not received any request to do so.

conference

kuala lumpur, feb. 16 (ap) -- a ministerial conference of the association of southeast asian nations (asean) in

- 6 -

bangkok april 16 and 17 will decide the place and dates for its proposed 10-nation southeast asian meeting, it was disclosed friday.

philippine foreign secretary carlos p. romulo said friday he hoped the meeting would be held in his country.

foreign ministers of the asean nations--thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines-- decided thursday they should convene a meeting of all southeast asian nations in the interests of ensuring long-term peace and security.

the other nations to be invited to the proposed meeting are north vietnam, south vietnam, laos, cambodia and burma.

romulo told newsmen before leaving for manila that Indonesian foreign minister adam malik will keep the asean countries informed of developments at the international conference on indochina scheduled to be held in paris.

the asean nations themselves have decided to help in rehabilitation of the war-torn indochina nations but their role is expected to be very limited.

romulo said thursday's conference was "constructive because it helped us to understand each other's position."

earlier malik told newsmen he would brief asean ambassadors in paris about the proceedings at the paris meeting beginning feb. 26. malik attend the meeting in his capacity as Indonesian representative to the international commission for control and supervision in vietnam.

aichi

tokyo, feb. 16 (afp) -- finance minister kiichi aichi said today that the current international monetary crisis may not be settled until west Germany and France affect a readjustment in the exchange rate between their respective currencies.

speaking at a press conference, mr. aichi expressed his belief that in addition to the devaluation of the dollar a "general realignment of currencies," centering around a new exchange rate between the Deutsche Mark and the French franc, might be necessary to resolve the problem of monetary uncertainty."

the finance minister, commenting on the float of the yen, said that the Japanese yen should be allowed

- 7 -

to float for "a fairly long" period.

asked to elaborate, he said: "by a fairly long period, i mean a duration measured by the month" not by the week or day.

mr. aichi said the government decision to cut the yen from the parity to let it float was the "best solution" in view of the currency.

"japan should keep the door open (by floating the yen) and duly evaluate criticisms, both at home and abroad, before returning to a fixed rate," he said.

the new central rate at which the yen would be repegged, mr. aichi said, would be a decision that would take into account opinion abroad and what would be deemed as desirable in the domestic economy.

karachi, feb. 16 (ap) -- police announced friday they had seized a large quantity of russian-made arms and ammunition from a private house in hyderabad, 120 miles northwest of karachi.

they said the haul included machine pistols, hand grenades, rifles, shotguns, handguns and 5,000 rounds of ammunition. three persons in the house were arrested.

police said that in another raid wednesday they seized machine pistols, hand grenades and several thousand rounds of ammunition from the house of an opposition member of the national assembly, zahoor elahi, in the gujrat district of punjab.

meanwhile, the two new governors of the baluchistan and northwest frontier provinces of pakistan have started mopping-up operations against "subversive elements" to recover illegal arms and ammunition.

mideast & afrika

binh

algiers, feb. 15, reuter -- madame nguyen thi banh, foreign minister of the provisional revolutionary government (prg) of south vietnam, held talks here tonight with algerian foreign minister abdelaziz bouteflika on bilateral relations and current world problems, official sources said.

- 8 -

no further details of the talks which began a few
hours after mme binh flew in for a three-day visit were
revealed.

but the future of postwar and possible algerian
assistance for the reconstruction of vietnam were expected
to be high on the agenda.

mme binh accompanied by two members of the prg
delegation to the now-completed four-party peace talks
in paris, mr tran van tu and mr truong tung.

mideast-egypt

by granville watts

cairo, feb. 15, reuter -- the egyptian government
tonight considered reports from washington suggesting
that the united states was setting up new moves towards
a settlement of the middle east crisis.

there was no official reaction to the reports but
political observers said it would require a firm initiative
from president nixon to cause the israelis to withdraw
from the occupied lands and thus lead to a just middle
east settlement.

with the vietnam peace question more or less solved,
political commentators speculated that dr henry kissinger,
president nixon's special envoy, might make an early
visit to the middle east to sound out parties in the
dispute.

while arab commentators wavered at the thought of
a Jewish negotiator coming to cairo, they nevertheless
did not rule out the possibility that dr kissinger might
fulfil the role of a middle east negotiator.

egypt has mounted a massive political offensive to
gain backing for her stand in the middle east dispute
which began with president anwar sadat's national security
affairs adviser, mr hafez ismail, going to moscow last
week.

mr ismail, after his talks with the russian leaders,
is due to go to London next week for talks with prime
minister edward heath and these are expected to be
followed by a trip to paris.

delegation

beirut, feb. 16 (ap) -- a soviet military delegation
is holding talks in damascus with the commanders of the

syrian armed services, egypt's middle east news agency reported friday.

it did not say when the russians arrived or how long they plan to stay.

the delegation's presence became known only when it met with syrian president hafez assad thursday night, the agency said.

## plot

by dennis neeld

beirut, feb. 16 (ap) -- a fanatical group of palestinian guerrillas plotted to overthrow jordan's king hussein during his current honeymoon trip to the united states, arab newspapers reported friday.

they said the plot was foiled by a Jordanian soldier who discovered the guerrillas' plans while searching a car at a border checkpoint.

the Jordanian government announced thursday that an undisclosed number of "saboteurs" had been arrested as they crossed the border from Syria.

they were carrying arms and documents relating to a planned subversive action in Jordan, said a government statement.

arab sources reported security forces rounded up at least 16 people in a series of raids shortly before the guerrillas were due to launch their coup. A Widescale hunt for other suspects is still underway.

guards around the U.S. embassy and other key buildings in the Jordanian capital of Amman have been reinforced.

a spokesman for al fatah, largest and most powerful of the Palestinian guerrilla groups, Friday night denied that those arrested in Jordan were planning a coup.

the spokesman, kamal adwan, said they all were members of fatah, not the Black September organization, and were attempting to infiltrate into Israel to establish the guerrilla bases there.

"There are signs that the Arab states intend to reach a peaceful settlement with Israel and fighting on the borders has become impossible," said Adwan.

"Fatah therefore decided to send guerrilla carders into Israel," he reported. "They tried to get in from Jordan because we believed it was the border from which the Israelis least expected any trouble."

Adwan claimed some guerrillas succeeded in hiding out in Israel. Others clashed with Israeli security forces.

- 10 -

forces and returned to arab territory and others were
rounded up by the jordanians.

among those arrested in jordan was a member of al
fatah's high command, code-named abu daoud, said the
spokesman.

dayan

tel aviv, feb. 16 (afp) -- israel should not seek
peace at any price with the arabs because such a peace
would be short lived, defence minister moshe dayan
said in a debate with seven former israeli chiefs of
staff, organised by the evening newspaper maariv and
published today. "making peace is not israel's number
one target... our first objective should be to learn
to live with the arabs and then to make a peace which
will last".

on the palestinian question general dayan said jordan
was the country, of the palestinians, and amman their
capital and it made no difference who ruled there "king
hussein or a palestinian government".

he criticised lebanon saying that although the
lebanese did not allow palestinian commando activities
along their border with israel arab, japanese turkish
and other "terrorists" were being trained in lebanon.

"it is a fact that the Lebanese allow their entrance and the maintenance of such training courses for terrorists on her soi".

congolese

brazzaville, feb. 16 (afp) -- a new plot to oust
the congolese government has been uncovered, according
to head of state major marien ngouabi.

radio-brazzaville last night broadcast a speech
by major ngouabi in which he told secondary school
pupils that several people had been arrested in
connection with the plot and would stand trial soon.

major ngouabi spoke of former lieutenant ange diawara,
author of an abortive coup last february. he said
followers of diawara had kidnapped about 20 youth
pioneers and taken them into the bush in the "pool"
region south and west of brazzaville.

he also claimed that agitation in the capital's
three secondary schools was due to "contamination"
of the pupils.

he promised to stage a public meeting soon to give
full details of the plot.

- 11 -

europe

thuy

rome, feb. 16 (afp) -- failure to establish the new government in south vietnam provided for in the peace agreement would lead to a resumption of the fighting, a top hanoi official warned today.

mr. xuan thuy, who led the north vietnamese negotiating team at the paris peace talks, told the rome paper il messaggero: "i believe that we shall have to attain the objective of setting up a single government in south vietnam, as foreseen by the paris agreement".

"if not, there will be a resumption of the conflict, which nobody wants".

mr thuy, who has just ended a visit to rome, added that the reunification of vietnam "was not an immediate problem. also, we are not in a hurry".

"today, the essential thing is to apply the points of the agreement regarding unification, while awaiting this, north and south vietnam will have normal relations in different spheres.

"the truth is that two governments exist in south vietnam, and two armed forces, the first task for unification is to reunite these two governments before proceeding to the unification of the whole country".

"the essential thing is to achieve a single government in south vietnam through general and democratic elections. this is the task of the national reconciliation council.

mr. thuy said he was convinced that with "the full reestablishment of peace, all vietnamese, regardless of their political convictions, will be able to overcome their differences and wipe out hatred."

"I can give the assurance that we shall do everything to apply the clauses of the agreement, to assure a lasting peace to help the country's development, to have friendly relations with all peoples, including the united states."

discussing the u.s. role in the reconstruction of vietnam, mr xuan thuy said "under the paris agreement the united states has the responsibility of contributing to the reconstruction of both north vietnam and the whole of indochina."

- 12 -

"dr henry kissinger's recent talk in hanoi with north vietnamese leaders were "within the framework of this contribution" he said.

talks

by gerard loughran

paris, feb. 16 (upi) -- south vietnamese and viet cong negotiators failed again friday to agree to arrangements for a political conference on the future of their country.

after their fifth meeting, viet cong delegate
dinh ba thi said:

"we continued preliminary discussions on the status of political negotiations, our two delegations so far have not agreed on the place of the future conference and a certain number of important points concerning its status."

the two sides arranged a further meeting for tuesday at 10:30 a.m. (09:30 gmt).

thi said the viet cong wanted "to settle the pending questions rapidly."

he said, "we have also asked the saigon delegation to examine seriously our reasonable proposals so that the consultative conference between the two sides opens at the earliest possible date."

the south vietnamese delegate, nguyen phuong thiep, said friday his delegation put its own proposals to the delegates.

"will goodwill on both sides, we believe we can agree that the consultations start at an early date and in suitable conditions," he said.

he said he put "new and concrete proposals" to the viet cong "with a view to overcoming difficulties raised by the other side."

before friday's two and a quarter hour conference opened, thiep denied difficulties arose from communist demands for security guarantees.

settlement

moscow, feb. 16 (afp) -- the new soviet plan for a peace settlement in the middle east envisages a withdrawal of Israeli troops from occupied arab territories in two stages, each stage lasting two months, well-informed

- 13 -

sources said today.

in the first stage, Israeli troops would withdraw
to between 30 and 40 kms (18 and 25 miles) of the suez
canal, and Egyptian forces would cross the canal
to take up positions on the east bank.

at the same time, work would start on reopening the canal and a contingent of united nations troops would be stationed between Israeli and Egyptian positions.

during the second stage, Israeli troops would withdraw
to the lines they held on June 5, 1967, before the
outbreak of the six-day arab-israeli war.

under the soviet plan the egypians would resume
sovereignty over the gaza strip and sharm-el-sheikh
at the mouth of the gulf of aqaba (eilath) and egypt
would guarantee freedom of navigation through the suez
canal to all shipping including Israeli.

the modified soviet plan the sources said, was
discussed in detail by soviet leaders with hafez ismail,
president anwar sadat's security adviser during the
latter's visit to moscow last week.

mr ismail was the first senior egyptian official to
be received by soviet party chief leonid brezhnev
since egypt sent back its soviet military advisers
last july.

mr ismail also had talks with u.n. middle east
mediator gunnar jarring who is the swedish ambassador
in moscow and with soviet foreign minister andrei
gromyko.

the kremlin was believed to be preparing a full-
scale diplomatic offensive for the reopening of negotiations
for a middle east settlement.

observers here noted that the soviet weekly, novoe
vremia (modern times) last week published an article
to president sadat's suggestion in a speech two years
ago of a "transitory settlement" under which egypt
would agree to the reopening of the suez canal to
international traffic.

under the terms of this settlement, the article said,
israeli troops were to be withdrawn a considerable
distance back into sinai.

observers said it was difficult to have an exact
idea of the position agreed upon by the soviet union
and egypt during mr ismail's talks.

it was believed however that conditions for the
reopening of the suez canal had been discussed.

- 14 -

in the communique published here after the departure of mr ismail egypt stated its opposition to a "partial solution" and emphasised its determination to work for global settlement. but arab diplomats here believe moscow and cairo still favour the idea of a "provisional settlement" linked to the reopening of the canal.

peterson
by roon lewald

boon, feb. 16 (ap) -- chancellor willy brandt's government friday signaled to president nixon it wants his proposed 1973 european tour to lay the foundation of a new transatlantic "constructive dialogue," well-informed sources said.

in a final meeting between nixon's special trade, political and security advisor and bonn's deputy foreign minister, the brandt government made it clear it sees the president's visit as the prelude for wide-ranging international talks late this year.

frank and peterson conferred after a working lunch friday as the american wrapped up the official part of a four-day bonn visit.

observers said his visit could have crucial significance for the future of washington's relations with western and trans-pacific partners.

with some doubt as to whether this week's monetary realignment will succeed in closing the record u.s. payments and trade deficits and thus remove a root cause of friction, peterson's visit came only a few months before the anticipated nixon visit and gatt round talks on trade and tariffs expected to start this fall.

frank expressed bonn's concern to peterson that a new trade bill announced by u.s. treasury secretary george shultz on tuesday could "trigger a dangerous development towards mutual escalation of protectionist measures" on both sides of the atlantic, sources said.

froehlke

bonn, feb. 16 (ap) -- u.s. army secretary robert f. froehlke thursday discussed problems related to american troops stationed in west Germany with bonn defense minister george leber.

- 15 -

Leber's ministry said Froehlke, who arrived in west Germany Monday during a tour of U.S. military facilities in Europe, discussed U.S.-German military cooperation with Leber and then left for bad Toelz to inspect the U.S. non-commissioned officers' academy there.

## Treaty

Bonn, Feb. 16, reuter -- the Christian Democratic opposition party gave notice in the Bonn Parliament today that it would oppose West Germany's entry into the United Nations if this meant sealing the partition of Germany into two states.

Dr. Werner Marx, the opposition's foreign affairs spokesman, said it must be made clear beforehand that the entry of West Germany and Communist East Germany into the U.N. as independent members would not set the seal on partition.

Dr. Marx was speaking at the conclusion of a two-day debate in the Bundestag (lower house) on the bill to ratify the historic treaty legitimising East Germany as a second sovereign state.

The opposition said yesterday it would vote against the treaty, claiming that it made too many political concessions to the Communist view and did not adequately protect the future of Germany as one nation.

## Forces reductions

Vienna, Feb. 16 (ap) -- An American source said on Friday that the delegates of NATO and the Warsaw Pact to the preliminary forces reduction talks here still failed to resolve the problem of whether Hungary should take a full part in the conference or not.

The source added he could not confirm optimistic forecasts in Vienna newspapers that the first plenary meeting of the delegates would take place next week.

The delegates had only one full meeting so far--on January 31--but that had been the formal opening of the talks. Lack of agreement on Hungary and on procedural matters has stood in the way of holding their first full business session.

The NATO concern over Hungary is based on the assessment that four Soviet divisions and important Soviet air force installations were stationed there.

- 16 -

nato informants said hungary might not be affected
in the same way as other participants in the talks
here as far as eventual troop reductions are concerned,
if it does not take part fully in the conference.

strikes

London, feb. 16 (ap) -- britain's train drivers announced friday they will stage a 24-hour strike on feb. 28 and britain prepared for a full-scale confrontation between government and labor.

the driver's stand against the conservative government's pay and price freeze came on the third day of nationwide strikes and slowdowns by gas workers which have affected fuel supplies to millions of homes, schools, hospitals, offices and factories.

on the eve of the feb. 28 rail strike, 250,000 civil servants are due to stop work in another 24-hour strike. on that same day 2,900 teachers in 210 London schools are scheduled to xxx or a second three-day stoppage.

and 22,000 hospital auxiliary workers are
threatening selective strikes and slowdowns that could
start any time.

carrington

London, feb. 16 (afp) -- British regular armed forces-- in the air, on the ground and at sea -- should at the minimum maintain their present levels and the territorial forces should be increased, the conservative political study centre report indicated here today.

the study, called "in defence of peace", is prefaced
by lord carrington, British minister of defence. he said
the report brought "a constructive and stimulating
contribution towards an informed consideration of defence
question".

the study centre said britain's need to keep powerful
armed forces was evident despite the present detente
between nato and the warsaw pact.

"it would be unwise for the west to believe that this
is necessarily a permanent condition of east-west
relations" it said.

"there is no reason to believe that the soviet intention for the long term -- the total dominance and absorption of western europe -- has changed in any way".

on ground forces, the report said recruitment age should be dropped from 17 to 16 and that territorial forces should be augmented by 10,500 to reach 21,000.

the report also called for the replacement of present tactical nuclear arms and the addition of helicopters armed with anti-tank guns.

for the navy, the report called on the building of new submarines, new aircraft carriers for anti-submarine defences, new frigates and more vertical take-off planes.

the royal air force was short of combat equipment, said the report.

"shortage of airplanes and reserves....reduces the service's current capacity to sustain hostilities for more than a few days" it said.

on the same subject, the report said: "outside europe, the united states marine corps on its own has more aircraft than the raf.

"Israel disposes of almost 95 per cent of the raf's aircraft strength with only 10 per cent of the raf's permanent staff, although like switzerland it has a very advanced system of reserve liability and cons-cription".

the study concluded by saying: "it is essential that the governments of all nato countries spare no effort to bring home to their public the fact that peace can only be maintained in present circumstances by the provision of powerful defence forces within nato.

"the deterrent -- conventional and nuclear must be seen -- by potential enemies to be able to deter and the necessity for this cannot be explained too often to the members of free society" it said.

## america

### kissinger

washington, feb. 16 (up1) -- henry a. kissinger conferred with premier chou en-lai in peking for four hours today, the white house said.

- 18 -

the meeting took place on the second day of kissinger's
four-day mission to china to engage in "concrete
consultations" following the vietnam cease-fire.

press secretary ronald l. ziegler, reading from
a terse teletype message, said that kissinger, president
nixon's national security affairs adviser, met with
chou from 2 to 6 p.m. friday (peking time).

sitting in on the meeting on the chinese side were
foreign minister chi peng-fei and vice foreign minister
chao kwan-hua, while they met there was
a concurrent session under way between alfred jenkins,
a state department asian expert, and chang wen-chin,
assistant foreign minister.

kissinger arrived in the chinese capital thursday
evening, and has met with chou a total of 7 1/2 hours.

nixon

washington, feb. 16 (upi) -- president nixon convened
his cabinet today for special briefings on postwar
developments in indochina and the international monetary
situation following his decision to devalue the dollar.

before leaving for a long weekend at his home in key
biscayne, florida, the president also conferred on world
trade and financial developments with sir christopher
soames, the external affairs commissioner of the european
common market.

the cabinet was briefed on indochina by vice president
spiro t. agnew, who returned last weekend from a 13-day
tour of eight southeast asian nations. his trip was to
assure allied leaders of continued u.s. aid and get
their feelings on the vietnam cease-fire agreement.

treasury secretary george p. shultz, the administra-
tion's chief economic spokesman, informed his fellow
cabinet members of the international monetary situation
and outlook as a result of nixon's decision monday to
devalue the dollar by 10 per cent.

nixon was present for the start of the cabinet session
at 9:30 a.m. est, but left after about five minutes
to talk with soames. the president previously received
a private report from agnew.

cuba must move to improve relations, u.s. says

washington, feb. 16 (usis) -- if cuba desires better
relations with the united states and other western

- 19 -

hemisphere countries, havana must make the first move, says state department charles bay.

"the shoe is on cuba's foot," he remarked. there is no reason for the united states to make a unilateral gesture towards improving relations, he stated.

mr. bray's comments were made february 16 in response to a newsman's request that he amplify secretary of state rogers' statement at a press conference the day before, after he had signed an agreement with cuba intended to curb hijacking. the secretary said the accord did not foreshadow an improvement in washington-havana relations.

"if the policies and attitudes of the cuban government were to change, we would think it would be a favorable development," mr. rogers said. however, he added, "we don't notice any change... and therefore our position remains the same."

in noting that both secretary rogers and president nixon have stressed that a change in cuban policies and attitudes must be forthcoming before the united states will alter its position, mr. bray said, "for our part, we will continue to honor the oas (organization of american states) sanctions of 1964 scrupulously and fully."

### pact

ottawa, feb. 15 (up1) -- canada and cuba formally signed a bilateral treaty on air and sea piracy today which external affairs minister mitchell sharp said would strengthen ties between the two nations.

sharp and cuban first vice-foreign minister rene anillo signed the agreement, which took two and a half years to negotiate. it replaces a treaty negotiated for canada by britain in 1904.

the new agreement, the first between the two nations since the 1959 cuban revolution, provides for either the prosecution or extradition of a hijacker by the nation in which he seeks sanctuary.

"the presence of the cuban delegation here to sign the document is an eloquent test of the friendship with this country. we will carefully maintain this agreement and see that it is carried out," said anillo.

sharp told the cuban official the treaty was "an important agreement between our two countries.

- 20 -

"it is particularly gratifying that canada and cuba have been able to conclude the agreement, which reflects the friendly relations between them and which will prove an effective deterrent against hijacking."

the external affairs minister added the treaty also showed "an impressive example of our desire to work together and strengthen our relations between the two countries."

sharp said it was hoped the treaty, signed about the same time a similar agreement was signed between cuba and the united states, would mean "getting rid of the menace to lives posed by aerial hijacking."

## hijack

washington, feb. 16 (afp) -- the u. s. has informed algeria of its anti-hijack accord with cuba and expressed interest in reaching a similar agreement, the state department said today.

algeria first raised the question of such an accord with the u. s., and diplomatic talks have been undertaken via the kenya embassy in washington.

the state department noted that algeria had immediately sent back to the u. s. the last two planes hijacked to its territory and returned "with some promptitude" the ransom money involved.

-- end --

- 21 -

no. 049

sunday, february, 18, 1973

asia

kissinger

hongkong, feb. 17 (afp) -- chairman mao tse-tung met american presidential adviser henry kissinger today in peking, the new china news agency reported.

"they had a frank and wide-ranging conversation in an unconstrained atmosphere", the agency said.

it added that, at the end of the conversation, chairman mao asked dr. kissinger to convey his regards to president nixon. dr. kissinger was accompanied by winston lord, a member of his staff, the report said. also attending were chinese prime minister chou en-lai, assistant minister of foreign affairs wang hai-rung and interpreters.

earlier in the day, dr. kissinger continued talks with chinese premier chou en-lai, the new china news agency said. chi peng-fei and chiao kuan-hua, respectively minister and vice-minister of foreign affairs, also took part in these discussions.

after the earlier meeting, mr. chi accompanied dr. kissinger and other members of the u.s. delegation to a performance of the peking central philharmonic society, the news agency said.

- 1 -

kissinger

tokyo, feb. 17 (ap) -- u.s. national security adviser henry kissinger's current visit to peking will be followed by some "concrete steps" for normalization of relations between china and the united states, japanese reports from the chinese capital said saturday.

quoting influential diplomatic sources in peking, the peking-based correspondent of the asahi shimbun reported that such "concrete steps" include the establishment of permanent organs such as a "trade mission" in each country, the exchange of newsmen and measures to promote trade and economic relations between the two nations.

it also quoted observers in peking as saying that the two countries will arrive at "an understanding on the massive withdrawal of u.s. troops from taiwan."

japanese reports said peking newspapers have been playing up the visit of kissinger, giving more space on his activities than it did when he visited the chinese capital last june.

the people's daily, organ of the chinese communist party, carried the statements by chou and kissinger as a front-page headliner with a photograph of chou and chi posing with kissinger, the kyodo news service said.

kyodo, in a peking dispatch, said observers there viewed the play-up of kissinger's visit by the paper and hsinhua as a reflection of an atmosphere which will enable the two countries to promote their relations.

indochina -appeal

saigon, feb. 17, reuter -- the four parties on the joint military commission (jmc) overseeing the vietnam ceasefire today issued an urgent appeal to all sides to halt completely all hostilities in the south and respect the peace agreement.

the appeal underlined the details of the agreement specifically calling for an end to hostile actions.

diplomatic observers said the unprecedented joint appeal, while not adding anything to the articles laid down in the agreement, appeared aimed at giving a moral boost to the paris document, which has so far been only partially respected by the opposed armies in the south.

the appeal from the jmc--made up of u.s., north

- 2 -

and south vietnamese and viet cong provisional revolutionary government officers in saigon--was issued in consideration of the fact that "the firing has not yet stopped, the ceasefire not yet consolidated in south vietnam...".

the appeal urgently called on the high commands of the parties in the south:

"to promptly issue orders to the regular and irregular armed forces and armed police under their command to completely end hostilities throughout south vietnam, to strictly respect the ceasefire, settle all questions by peaceful negotiations in a spirit of national reconciliation and concord with a view to averting conflicts and preserving a lasting peace;

"to promptly issue orders to the regular and irregular armed forces and armed police under the command in south vietnam to strictly observe the prohibition of the following acts stipulated in article two of the protocol concerning the ceasefire in south vietnam:

"armed patrols into areas controlled by opposing armed forces and flights by fighter bomber aircraft of all types, except for unarmed flights for proficiency training and maintenance.

"armed attacks against any person, either military or civilian by any means whatsoever, including the use of small arms, mortars, artillery, bombing and strafing by airplanes and any other type of weapons and explosive device.

"all combat operations on the ground, on rivers, on the sea and in the air.

"all hostile acts, terrorism or reprisals, and "all acts endangering lives and public and private property," the appeal said.

since the ceasefire went into effect three weeks ago the south vietnamese government has accused the communist forces of violating the ceasefire more than 3,500 times and the north vietnamese government and the p.r.g. have accused saigon of violating the truce more than 2,000 times.

### appeal

saigon, feb. 17 (ap) -- col. bui tin, chief spokesman for the north vietnamese delegation, said the appeal was unanimously adopted friday afternoon

- 3 -

at a meeting of the american, north vietnamese, south vietnamese and viet cong representatives to the joint military commission.

tin claimed the appeal was the initiative of the viet cong's provisional revolutionary government and was drafted by north vietnam.

missing from the appeal was any reference to executing article 4 of the cease-fire protocol, which has never been carried out. tin claimed the south vietnamese side refused to allow the paragraph to be inserted into the appeal. the commission operates on the basis of unanimity.

article 4 states:

"in order to avert conflict and insure normal conditions for those armed forces which are in direct contact, and pending regulation by the joint military commissions, the commanders of the opposing armed forces at those places of direct contact shall meet as soon as the cease-fire comes into force with a view to reaching an agreement on temporary measures to avert conflict and to insure supply and medical care for these armed forces.

thieu

saigon, feb. 17 (upi) -- president nguyen van thieu met today with about 300 leaders of political, religious and other groups to form an organization for fighting political battles with the communists, a government spokesman said.

present at the meeting were vice president tran van huong, several cabinet ministers and about 50 senators and deputies, the spokesman said.

sen. tran quang thuan, representative of the an quang buddhist faction, also was present.

however, gen. duong van (big) minh and former vice president nguyen cao ky, two of thieu's major opponents, were not at the meeting.

the government spokesman said thieu did not plan to meet with minh or ky "for the time being."

thieu told the 300 leaders at the meeting that they must prepare to deal directly with the national liberation front.

the delegates to today's meetings established the "popular front for winning peace and to implement the people's right of self determination."

- 4 -

the spokesman said the purpose of the front is to "achieve national solidarity in view of the political struggle with the communists." he said members of the front also will make contact with opposition leaders such as minh and ky.

he also said the front was a "loose political organization" not a political party.

sources said the new "popular front" delegates tentatively decided to hold a national convention feb. 22.

vietnam-prisoners

saigon, feb. 17 (afp) -- the saigon government today freed a further 700 "communist" prisoners of war, a military spokesman announced here.

another batch of 182 prisoners were to be handed over later in the day to north vietnamese and national liberation front (nlf) forces, he added.

yesterday, the spokesman warned that the release of these prisoners would almost certainly be delayed unless the provisional revolutionary government (prg) freed the 320 "government" troops who should have been handed over last monday near pleiku.

however, he said today, the "communists" had since given assurances that the handover would be carried out soon. the saigon government had therefore decided to go ahead with the planned liberation of its prisoners.

since monday, the saigon authorities have handed over 4,514 "communist" soldiers, while the nlf has freed 711 saigon army troops.

cambodia

phnom penh, feb. 17 (upi) -- khmer rouge gunners ambushed a mekong river supply convoy friday night sinking an american ammunition barge and badly damaging two cargo ships, transportation company sources reported today.

the sources said the attack occurred three miles south of the mekong river naval base at neak luong, 32 miles southeast of phnom penh.

the american barge shanee was hit by more than 50 rounds of 75 mm. recoiless rifle fire. the sources said several tons of napalm bombs on board exploded and the barge went down in a mass of flames.

the rest of the convoy, carrying supplies of food,

- 5 -

petroleum and armaments, limped into the cambodian
capital shortly before midnight, the sources said.

during the past two weeks a major khmer rouge
offensive around neak luong has threatened the defenses
of cambodia's supply route the mekong river. the
situation has been described as critical.

the communists have captured or overrun nearly a dozen
government positions around neak luong and have now
advanced to within one miles of the city.

military sources said american jet fighters inten-
sified bombing raids around the beleaguered city
dropping hundreds of tons of bombs on suspected communist
concentrations.

sullivan

bangkok, feb. 17 (ap) -- william sullivan, u.s.
deputy assistant secretary of state for east asian and
pacific affairs, told thai leaders saturday that a peace
settlement in laos would be signed soon, thai vice
foreign minister chatichai choonhavan told newsmen.

chatichai, who attended an almost two-hour discussion
between sullivan and premier field marshal thanom
kittikachorn, quoted sullivan as saying, "there is no
problem for a peace agreement in the kingdom of laos."

latest reports from the laotian capital said private
meetings were continuing between lao premier prince
souvanna phouma and phoumi vongvichit, secretary general
of the neo lao hak xat, the pathet lao political arm.

sullivan also told thanom there were still problems
that made it impossible for a peace agreement in cambodia,
chatichai reported.

sullivan, who accompanied presidential adviser henry
kissinger to hanoi, told thanom that north vietnamese
leaders have expressed their willingness to negotiate
with thailand on the repatriation of some 50,000 north
vietnamese refugees now living in northeast thailand.

sullivan told the thai leaders that north vietnam
would be willing to negotiate either through the united
nations or the international red cross society.

ambassador unger and his deputy edward masters
accompanied sullivan to the talks.

air chief marshal dawee chullasapya, chief of staff
of the supreme command, and pote sarasin, special adviser
to the premier, were also present.

-6-

sullivan and his aides were honor guests at a luncheon given by the thai premier at his home following the talks.

sullivan leaves bangkok Sunday to brief other nations in the region on kissinger's visit to hanoi.

asean

bangkok, feb. 17 (afp) -- deputy foreign minister brig-gen, chartichai chunhawan confirmed here today that the next asean ministerial conference will take place in bangkok april 16-17 "and the date for a proposed asean summit would be settled during the talks".

gen. chartichai returned from kuala lumpur yesterday where he attended a two-day asean foreign ministers meeting.

the summit talks would involve ten southeast asian nations including all five asean members -- Malaysia, thailand, Singapore, the Philippines and Indonesia -- as well as the two vietnams, Laos, Cambodia and Burma.

he also disclosed that the asean foreign ministers have agreed to a thai proposal to set up a "standing committee to work out all the details."

gen. chartichai added that during the kuala lumpur talk the asean foreign ministers "accepted" a three-point thai proposal that:

--the ambassadors of asean countries in Paris, excluding Indonesia, will be appointed as observers to the Paris conference on a political settlement in Indochina beginning there in March (Indonesian foreign minister Adam Malik is the only Asia representative to be invited to the talks).

--a 10-nation Asian forum of all south-east Asian countries will be convened.

--an Indochina reconstruction programme will be undertaken.

program

tokyo, feb. 17 (afp) -- the foreign ministry has adopted a program for its policies toward Indo-China, including recommendation to the United Nations to allow both North and South Vietnam to join the World body, the diplomacy-oriented "tokyo shimbun" reported this morning.

- 7 -

the lines the ministry is to follow in regard to
indo-china, according to the paper, are:

-- to support the saigon regime as the sole legitimate
government of south vietnam and not to recognize the
"provisional revolutionary government" of south vietnam;

-- contacts with north vietnam to be expanded de
facto but its recognition will be further studied
with caution and

-- to recommend accession of both north and south
vietnam to the united nations.

on the other hand, depending on results of prime
minister kakuei tanaka and foreign minister masayoshi
ohira's talks with u.s. presidential aide on national
security dr. henry a. kissinger monday, japan may
recognize north vietnam earlier than expected. this
is because there have been reports that with dr.
kissinger's visit to hanoi, the date of the united
states' recognition of north vietnam has been moved up,
the paper said.

waldheim

tokyo, feb. 17 (ap) -- united nations secretary
general kurt waldheim said saturday the peace agreement
in vietnam has "created a good climate" and makes
it easier to solve international conflicts.

waldheim said with peace developments in vietnam
"we are on the threshold of a long era... the door
is open for a wider, better international cooperation
... in solving such problems as the dispute in the middle
east, cyprus, Africa and Asia."

he said this could not be done in the "atmosphere of
a cold war."

waldheim told a news conference, sponsored by the
japan presss club, he was also "confident that fighting
would die down" in cambodia and Laos and chances
were good of reaching a cease-fire. the cease-fire
accord between the united states and north vietnam did
not cover cambodia and Laos, but, he added "I am sure
the conflict will be settled."

"we did not intervene," waldheim said but hope
"bilateral contacts" by dr. kissinger and north vietnam
leaders in hanoi this week will lead to a solution.

on the relief and reconstruction of vietnam, waldheim
said the japanese government stated that it was "ready

- 8 -

to cooperate" with the united nations. it is an issue, waldheim added, that cannot be forced on a country but the u.s. in its biggest relief operation, put up two billion dollars to assist bangladesh and the funds came from the dollar countries. "we have started and are prepared," the u.n. secretary-general said, to help vietnam but cooperation must come from member nations of the united nations and countries involved in indochina.

asked to comment on japan's desire to become a permanent member of the u.n. security council, waldheim said he knew of japan's interest and discussed the matter with japanese leaders.

"this is a very delicate and complicated problem," he said, "involving political and geographic implications." It will require careful study, he added, and will require revision of the u.n. charter.

"I cannot speak for the general assembly," waldheim said, "we will have to sound out the members of the security council ..." japan is the only country to express the desire of joining the security council, he said, but the secretary general could not make the decision.

on the reunification of north and south korea, waldheim said, "I have been informed of the problems involving north and south korea and have had talks with both sides" on several occasions. but, he pointed out that he did not participate "in any bilateral efforts or act as mediator to settle their problems." he expressed hope that the two countries will continue their dialogue.

on other issues, waldheim, who is winding up a five-day visit to japan Sunday, said:

- "the japanese government has responded and expressed its readiness to help the u.n. settle its 80 million dollar debt."

- the secretary general will recommend sending a group of experts here to study japan's interest in setting up a united nations university. "I am happy the idea was so well received in japan and other parts of asia... the final decision will come from the general assembly, probably next spring."

- he will look into the matter of missing journalists consisting of seven japanese, five american, four french, two austrians, one german and one swiss in indochina. to learn their fate, he said, "is part of the overall aspects of the coming paris conference."

- 9 -

-- he discussed problems involving 93,000 pakistani prisoners of war detained in india and exchange of civilian population between pakistan and india during his recent visit.

waldheim

tokyo, feb. 17 (afp) -- united nations secretary
general kurt waldheim left for new york winding up his
five-day official visit of japan.

vietnam-aid

tokyo, feb. 17 (afp) -- prime minister kakuei tanaka
has promised united nations secretary general kurt
waldheim that japan would donate 50 million dollars for
the rehabilitation of indochina, government sources
reported today.

the prime minister made the promise when dr waldheim called on him on feb. 14.

upvaluation asked

tokyo, feb. 17 (afp) -- the u.s. government has formally asked the japanese government to revalue the yen upward by at least 20 per cent, the washington correspondent of the "yomiuri shimbun" reported here today.

according to the correspondent, quoting informed
sources in washington, it was not immediately clear
what the japanese answer was but it was considered
certain that the japanese side turned down the request.

under a secret agreement, the u.s. and west european
countries are carrying out a strategy to demand a 20-25
per cent upvaluation of the yen. the recent request was
made in line with this strategy.

the sources said that washington also demanded
perfect liberalization of trade and capital transactions.
the u.s. government has not made any commitment that it
would exempt imports from japan from the import surcharge
if japan upvalues the yen by 20 per cent.

in this respect, washington's attitude this time is
decidedly tougher than at the time of the previous yen
revaluation in december, 1971.

meanwhile, japanese government sources said that the

-10-

u.s. government had officially asked japan to upvalue
the yen by 18 per cent and seems certain to ask
large concessions in regard to trade, too, by hinting
at appealing to the general agreement on tariffs and
trade (gatt), according to the "nihon keizai shimbun."

the japanese government is anxious to limit the
upvaluation to 15 per cent or so but the key to the
question is to what extent japan can make trade
concessions by way of import and capital liberalization,
according to the paper.

the industrial daily, "nikkan kogyo," reported that
the government, stuying the question how much japan
should revalue the yen upward, is considering about 16
per cent quite appropriate in the present circumstances
at home and abroad. a 16-per cent upvaluation would make
the yen 265 -264 yen to the dollar.

leaders of the federation of economic organizations
(keidanren) at a meeting friday recognized that the
floating yen had been upvalued de facto by nearly 17 per
cent and agreed that the export trade control order
should be maintained so as to ward off more pressure
from the united states, the "asahi shimbun" reported.

peking-taiwan

hongkong, feb. 17 (afp) -- in the event of u.s.
recognition of peking, the nationalists would lease
one or more of their offshore islands such as the
pescadores to the soviet union as a naval base in
exchange for a non-aggression pact with moscow, the
south china morning reported today.

quoting a top official of the general political
department of taiwan's ministry of defence who left
yesterday after an visit to hongkong, the post said that
russian emissaries have been already visiting taiwan.

the source was quoted as saying that the move would
serve as a protection for taiwan in time of emergency
without endangering its stability.

it would also fulfil the russian strategy of
containment against peking from every possible angle,
the paper said in an article by a special correspondent.

it was part of taiwan's "flexible diplomacy" of
developing relations with anti-peking communist countries
adopted last year by the former foreign minister mr chou
shu-kai with the consent of top nationalist "decision
makers" the report said.

- 11 -

the top nationalist defence official said during
his brief stopover in hongkong that american diplomatic
recognition of peking would automatically invalidate
the 1955 mutual defence treaty between the u.s. and
taiwan because the shanghai communique of february,
1972 had spelt out america's "one china policy."

he believed that u.s. presidential advisor dr henry
kissinger's talks with peking leaders might lead to the
establishment of unofficial trade centers in peking
and washington.

he still considered american recognition of peking
in the immediate future as "unlikely," the report added.

taiwan

taipei, feb. 17 (upi) -- the nationalist chinese
defense ministry tonight branded as "absurd and
ridiculous" a hong kong press report that taiwan will
sign a non-aggression pact with the soviet union.

tonight, a spokesman of the defense ministry said
no ranking official from taiwan has ever made such
remarks to anybody in hong kong.

he said it was "common sense" that nationalist china
will under no circumstances form any alliance with any
communist country in its struggle against the peking
government.

tyumen mission

tokyo, feb. 17 (afp) -- a 30-man government-
private mission is leaving for moscow in april to
conclude a basic contract with the soviet authorities
for development of the tyumen oilfields in western
siberia, oil industry sources said today.

a message from foreign minister masayoshi ohira or
minister of international trade and industry yasuhiro
nakasone is to be carried by the mission to signify
government backing. the soviet side, too, has been
told by the japanese oil industry of its zeal in promo-
ting the vast project.

general agreement on the contract is expected to
be reached around june and the contract signed at the
sixth session of the soviet-japanese joint economic
committee in early july in moscow.

the government-private mission, to be headed

- 12 -

by mr hiroki imazato, president of the "overseas oil development corporation," will be composed of officials of the foreign, finance and international trade and industry ministries and business leaders, the sources said.

there has been some delay in soviet-japanese agreement on the tyumen project at the political level but a favorable turn has been made with foreign minister masayoshi ohira telling ambassador oleg troyanovsky on jan. 18 that the tyumen project would not be linked with the japanese claim on the soviet-held southern kuriles isles and prime minister kakuei tanaka promising the diet on jan. 27 to undertake the siberian development project in real earnest.

during the basic moscow negotiations, the following matters are scheduled to be taken up:

- soviet guarantees that they would be able to supply japan with 750 million tons of tyumen crude oil over a period of 20 years beginning 1978;

- japanese guarantees that they would take in all that oil;

- details of the equipment, materials and consumer goods required for the tyumen project;

- the manner in which the 1,000 million-dollar loan to the soviet government is to be granted.

the japanese side is planning to conclude a basic contract for giving the credit on an interbank basis in accordance with soviet wishes, while a corporation to be jointly founded by japanese oil refinery firms is to guarantee purchase of the tyumen oil.

### prisoners

new delhi, feb. 17, reuter -- india will repatriate 179 pakistani prisoners of war captured in bangladesh on monday, it was officially announced here today.

the prisoners will be repatriated at the wagah check post near armritsar in punjab and the repatriation is expected to start at 1100 local, the announcement said.

### mideast & afrika

#### binh

algiers, feb. 17 (afp) -- mrs nguyen thi binh, foreign minister of the south vietnamese provisional

- 13 -

revolutionary government (prg), today said prg and south vietnamese representatives meeting in paris would accomplish little until the international conference on vietnam opened there on feb. 26.

mrs binh told newsmen here that saigon bore responsibility for the impasse of the current paris talks and said that after five working meetings, "we are up against difficulties beyond our control".

She said, "what is happening (in south vietnam) is closely linked with the paris negotiations with saigon representatives".

mrs binh went on to denounce "the very serious violations of the vietnam accord by the saigon administration" and said, "10 days after the accord was signed, the saigon army launched 338 wide-sweeping attacks on liberated zones, 213 air strikes and 281 shellings".

the prg foreign minister accused south vietnamese president nguyen van thieu's government of "violating democratic liberties" of the south vietnamese, means of freeing political prisoners provided for by the paris accords, and the functioning of the four-way joint military commission and the international commission for control and supervision.

while throwing full blame for the violations on the "saigon administration", mrs binh said, "the american government, as signatory to the accord and guarantor of the saigon regime, will not be able to duck its responsibility".

She said the prg "undertakes to carry out seriously all the provisions of the accord, and will fight to see that it is completely and correctly applied".

## iraq

beirut, feb. (upi) -- the iraqi authorities have executed 17 military officials after their arrest on charges of attempting to overthrow the regime of president ahmed hassan al bakr, the newspaper al hayat said today.

in a private report from the iraqi capital, baghdad, the newspaper said the authorities foiled the coup attempt "a few days ago."

it said the authorities arrested a number of military and political "elements" who participated in an attempt to overthrow the regime.

- 14 -

the 17 military officials were executed and investigations are underway with the detained civilians, the newspaper said.

it said most of those detained were "pro-moscow," but gave no names or other details on the plot attempt.

gaddafi

algiers, feb. 17, reuter -- the leaders of Libya and algeria began a weekend of summit talks in the eastern city of constantine today, amid signs that an important joint initiative might be under preparation.

presidents muammar gaddafi of Libya and houari boumedienne of algeria were aided by high-ranking delegations at their first meeting in eight months.

details of president gaddafi's entourage were not published, but president boumedienne was aided by two top political figures -- foreign minister abdelaziz bouteflika and minister of state cherif belkacem -- and two military leaders, colonel abdelghani, head of the eastern military region, and colonel ahmed draia, head of national security.

mr belaid abdesselam, minister of industry and energy and chief implementor of algeria's nationalisation of french oil interests two years ago, was also in the algerian delegation.

the importance of the algerian line-up indicated that the summit, announced only last night, would be more than a review of arab and world affairs.

the official algerian news agency provided the only other lead, indicating that Libya and algeria -- both pacesetters in nationalisation of foreign oil firms--might be planning joint projects.

the talks at the headquarters of the wilaya (department) of constantine, officially described as one of the periodic meetings previously agreed between the two presidents, are expected to continue tomorrow.

nyerere

nairobi, kenya, feb. 17 (ap) -- president julius nyerere of tanzania flew here saturday for talks with president kenyatta on problems that threaten the existence of the east african community which links their two countries and uganda.

- 15 -

soon after arriving, nyerere travelled to nakuru,
100 miles from here, to meet kenyatta. the kenya leader
went to nakuru from nairobi earlier in the day at the
start of a tour of upcountry farming areas.

korean

baghdad, feb. 17 reuter -- north korean vice-
president kang ryank-uk arrived in baghdad today for
a week's official visit, the iraq agency reported.

it said the korean leader was greeted by mr. saddam
hussein, vice president of the revolutionary command
council, members of the council, ministers, the korean
ambassador and senior officials and members of the
diplomatic corps.

the iraqi and north korean vice presidents drove
in an official procession to baghdad palace, where the
korean leader will be staying.

vinogradov



 Burj
 cairo, feb. 17 (afp) -- egyptian premier aziz sidki
today received soviet ambassador to egypt vladimir
vinogradov.

(in sanaa, north yemeni premier abdel rahman al-
iriani received soviet ambassador to north yemen
vasily kornev.

(mr kornev was also received by north yemeni
commander-in-chief colonel mohammed al iriani
and chief of staff colonel hussein massouari).

defence

addis ababa, feb. 17 (afp) -- military experts from
14 organisation of african unity (oau) members meeting
here this week have drawn up a new "integrated" regional
defence system, well informed sources said today.

following the lead given by an earlier ministerial
council session in this ethiopian capital, the experts
have also hit out covertly at israel by asking all
african countries to terminate military facilities for
any country responsible for "aggression" against an
african nation, the sources added.

the group's recommendations are to be submitted to
the next ministerial meeting here at the end of may
on the eve of the oau summit which coincides with the
pan-african body's 10th anniversary.

- 16 -

europe

xuan thuy

vienna, feb. 17 (ap) -- xuan thuy, north vietnam's chief delegate to the paris peace talks, saturday claimed that while north vietnam and the vietcong observed the cease-fire, the united states and south vietnam were obstructing international suprevision.

xuan thuy came to budapest at the invitation of hungarian foreign minister janos peter, the hungarian news agency mti reported.

... the american party and the saigon administration do not fully execute the point of the agreement, seeking every way to impede the activity of the four-sided military commission and the international control and supervisory commission in south vietnam," mti quoted him as saying.

tanks

frankfurt, feb. 17 (ap) -- frankfurt nespaper reported saturday that the soviet union has sent 2,000 new tanks into east Germany during the last few months to strengthen the existing russian garrison of 20 divisions.

citing "observations of western intelligence services," the frankfurter rundschau said 1,000 of the tanks are t-62s, the most modern russian armor, and the other 1,000 tanks are t54-55 models.

the rundschau said the bonn defense ministry confirmed the presence of the new armor xxx suggested that the russians were beefing up their forces in east Germany before embarking upon serious talks with the west on mutual and balanced force reductions -- in europe.

a bonn defense ministry spokesman refused to comment on the report saturday, telling newsmen to query the ministry again early next week.

the report also said that the russian have moved 1,000 additional artillery pieces into east Germany as part of the buildup. additional soviet troops were not being sent in, the report said.

it said the t-62 tanks have been distributed among the 10 soviet armor divisions in east Germany, and

- 17 -

assigned to battalions stationed near the west german frontier.

the t-54-55 tanks and artillery have been placed in storage depots in east Germany, the report said.

quoting figures from the London institute of strategic studies, the newspaper said the additional tanks would increase the estimated Russian armor strength in east Germany from 5,040 to more than 7,000 tanks.

in addition to 10 armor divisions, the Russians are believed to have 10 mechanized infantry divisions stationed in east Germany.

## arms

geneva, feb. 17, reuter -- the soviet union's chief disarmament negotiator, mr. alexei roshchin, said here today the vietnam ceasefire agreement had improved prospects for progress in a new round of arms talks opening here next tuesday.

mr. roshchin was speaking to reporters on his arrival by air from Moscow for a session of the 25-nation geneva disarmament conference.

he said the banning of chemical weapons was an extremely important issue before the conference and the soviet union expected to make progress in dealing with this. "we expect that some steps can and should be taken," mr. roshchin said.

the soviet delegate said the vietnam settlement would undoubtedly improve the atmosphere of the arms negotiations.

"because the general situation has become better, the prospects for solution of several problems are brighter than before," mr. roshchin said.

## peterson

bonn, feb. 17 (ap) -- peter g. peterson, president Nixon's special envoy for trade, political and security matters, conferred with bonn opposition leaders saturday at the end of a four-day visit. he was flying later Saturday to Paris.

peterson spoke Saturday morning with former chancellor Ludwig Ernard and other leaders of the opposition Christian Democrats.

## arafat

sofia, feb. 17 (afp) -- yasser arafat, president of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, today met Bulgarian Communist Party first secretary Todor Zhivkov

- 13 -

in sofia, the bulgarian bta news agency reported.

cabinet

rome, feb. 16 (ap) -- the italian government said
friday night it remained committed to the program of
european monetary cooperation although it has left the
lira to float freely following the devaluation of the
dollar.

in a communique issued after a cabinet meeting
to discuss the world monetary situation, the government
said the lira was floated to avoid "speculation" and
"influence from outside on our foreign trade."

the communique said italy maintained its two-tier
market, with the official and financial lira.

it said the italian government fully backed common
market steps to speed up the creation of a european
monetary cooperation fund, the completion of the second
phase of the european economic and monetary unity
and the agreement on a common stand in negotiations
for the reform of the world monetary system.

eban

oxford, england, feb. 17 (ap) -- abba eban, israel's
foreign minister, said friday that opportunities for an
arab-israeli settlement were stronger than ever.

lecturing to students at oxford university, eban said
the past three years had been notable for greater
stability.

he added: "what the middle east lacks is not peace
proposals but a table to put them on. our business is
to create a climate for negotiation."

america

kissinger-mao

key biscayne, florida, feb. 17, reuter -- presidential
adviser henry kissinger conferred for nearly two hours
in peking today with chinese leader mao tse-tung, the
white house announced here.

white house spokesman ronald ziegler gave no details
or indication of how dr. kissinger's discussions have

- 19 -

gone.

but observers said the very fact he was received by
chairman mao indicated a good atmosphere had been
established in discussions with lower-level chinese
officials.

a white house statement, released here where
president nixon is spending a long weekend, said:

"dr kissinger continued his meetings today with the leaders of the people's republic of china, including five hours with prime minister chou en-lai.

"afterwards he attended a concert hosted by the foreign minister (chi peng-fei).

"in the late evening, at 11.30 p.m. peking time, he was invited to a meeting with mao tse-tung, which lasted nearly two hours."

## dobrynin

Washington, feb. 17 (up1) -- soviet ambassador anatoly f. dobrynin is currently in moscow for consultations and purportedly discussing xxx visit to their party leader leonid i. brezhnev, soviet diplomatic sources said today.

the sources said the soviet envoy was expected to
return to the united states in early march and would
undoubtedly be in touch with the administration on the
brezhnev visit.

brezhnev is expected to hold talks with nixon on the
middle east, disarmament and european issues. he also
would make a tour around the united states in all
probability.

## soames

Washington, feb. 16 (afp) -- sir christopher soames, the european common market's foreign minister, said here today that he hopes americans and europeans will talk more about what unites them than what divides them.

the eec commission's vice-president for external affairs was addressing a press conference after two days of concentrated discussions with american leaders, including president nixon.

sir christopher, who arrived in washington just after the dollars devaluation, said he was leaving satisfied that both the united states and the common

- 20 -

market members knew their common political interests outweighed their economic conflicts.

his talks here with the men responsible for america's
economic and european policies centred on the consequences
that devaluation will have for the trade and monetary
negotiations scheduled for later this year within the
framework of gatt (general agreement on tariffs and
trade).

he stressed that from europe's point of view, it
was all-important that such a bill be framed more along
free trade than protectionist lines, even if it had to
include certain measures to safeguard american industries.

he said the common market members would be loath
to engage in trade negotiations with the u. s. unless
congress had given the administration a clear go-
ahead to negotiate.

the common market's "foreign minister", as a state
department source called him, sat in on part of a nixon
cabinet meeting earlier today after an unscheduled
45-minute talks with the president. the cabinet discussion
had centred on the monetary crisis and a u.s. foreign trade
bill.

ushiba

san francisco, california, feb. 17 (afp). -- japanese
ambassador to the united states nobuhiko ushiba friday
voiced opposition to an u.s. measures to limit imports
in an attempt to resolve the current monetary crisis.

mr. ushiba speaking at a dinner here, said that
the u. s. and japan were mutually set on the objective
of "a freer and more open world economy" and for that
reason the two countries "should not for emergency
purposes create a jungle of safeguards, sanctions and
loopholes.

"these will surely postpone and may make impossible
the kind of world we are striving for," he said.

"I am presonally sure that japan will act cooperatively
to open its market wider to foreign -- especially
u. s. -- goods and capital," he concluded.

the new york times feb. 17, 1973
missile shots in soviet asia reported
by william beecher, special to the new york times

washington, feb. 16 -- nixon administration
officials report that the soviet union, in an unusual

- 21 -

development, has fired nine intercontinental ballistic missiles over its asian territory north of china within about two weeks.

the officials said this suggested a step-up in the training of crews for missiles with potential targets in china. they also noted that the firings had come shortly before henry a. kissinger, the president's national security adviser, arrived in peking yesterday for five days of talks.

"we don't know if the purpose of the firings was the equivalent of a shot across the bow preceding mr. kissinger's visit," one official declared. "but at the very least it indicates their capability to fire at china is not only not being neglected but substantially accelerated."

shots of 1,400 miles reported

the officials disclosed that the missile employed in the recent soviet tests was the ss-11, one of the primary icbm's in the soviet arsenal. it is normally tested at or near its full range of about 7,000 miles, but the recent firings -- reportedly from a base near lake baikal eastward to an area in the kamchatka peninsula -- covered only about 1,400 miles.

military analysts said that deployed icbm's of all types were occasionally fired from operational bases, both to insure they had not deteriorated in their underground silos, and to help train new missile crews. but the sources said that it was highly unusual to have so many firings from one such complex over a short period of time.

they also pointed out that while the ss-11 was believed only accurate enough at full range to come within about one-mile of target, the accuracy should be much better at the much shorter range involved in the recent tests.

the recent soviet ss-11 firings appear to lay at rest a debate in the american intelligence community about the capability of this missile, about 970 of which are reported to be operational.

some analysts had held that most ss-11's were designed for firing only at intercontinental ranges -- from

- 22 -

4,000 to 7,000 miles -- and that a fraction were specially engineered so they could be fired alternatively at either intercontinental or intermediate ranges.

now after the recent firing of nine so-called standard ss-11's at a range of only 1,400 miles, most analysts believe that all of the ss-11's may be fired at variable ranges.

## bomb

honolulu, feb. 17 (up1) -- american planes are continuing to bomb laos and cambodia, the commander in chief of the pacific announced today.

few details were released about the air-war being waged over southeast asia.

an announcement issued on behalf of adm. noel gayler said "u. s. aircraft, including b-52's," are continuing bombing operations at the request of the laotian and cambodian governments.

f-111 fighter-bombers, giant b-52 strategic-bombers and phantom jets are being used to bolster troops trying to hold onto government-claimed territory before a cease-fire talkes effect in laos and cambodia.

## korea

by spencer davis

washington, feb. 17 (ap) -- a hither-to secret senate foreign relations committee staff report released saturday says that with the end of u. s. involvement in vietnam, it should now be possible to take a fresh look at the residual u. s. interest in south korea.

"our basic objective would appear to be to avoid tension or conflict on the korean peninsula which would disturb the present apparent equilibrium in the north pacific area where the interests of the soviet union, china, japan and the united states converge." the report said. it added:

"to date we have sought to accomplish this objective by maintaining a military balance backed by a u. s. deterrent. this policy has been expensive and has carried with it the danger of another u. s. involvement in an asian war."

the report, prepared by committee aides james g. lowenstein and richard m. moose, reported on the situation in korea and the Philippines where it said

- 23 -

both countries declared martial law last fall and
followed with other steps designed to abolish the direct
election of the president.

the senate study said if the u.s. is now in position
to reexamine its programs in korea the following questions
should be studied:

"why does south korea, with a more prosperous economy require grant military aid, while north korea pays for most of what it receives; why is it necessary for the u.s. to pay operating and maintenance costs of the korea armed forces; why does the u.s. have troops and advisors in the south while the russians and chinese have none in the north?"

the report also asked for the justification for having
u.s. weapons with nuclear capabilities in south korea
and why american ground forces should be retained if they
are no longer necessary to maintain military balance.

the report also said the argument for completing a
realistic modernization program for the korean armed
forces would be more appealing if there were some
assurance that by a certain date there would be no further
need for grant aid or automatic u.s. involved in the
defense of south korea.

the u.s. has 42,000 men in south korea.

"we spoke with virtually no u.s. officials -- and certainly no senior officials -- who did not expect the united states to maintain a military presence in korea for the foreseeable future," moose and lowenstein said.

the report said many observers believe if the u.s.
were to leave or appeared to be leaving, the north
koreans might react or the japanese might feel compelled
to increase significantly their own defense establishment.
that decision must not only have far reaching domestic
repercussions in japan, but also would have profound
effects on chinese and soviet relations with japan,
it said.

the report decried what it called a trend toward
what is in effect a personal dictatorship. and it said
the north-south talks should have some effect in reducing
tensions but is unlikely to bring political reunification
any closer.

the report, heavily deleted in part, disclosed that
the u.s. exerted heavy pressure on the korean government
when they refused to send as many f-5a jet fighters to
south vietnam as the u.s. would like.

- 24 -

2

021710 -- chinese ice-hockey team leaves for european tour and world championships ... 10

021712 -- vice-president of chinese academy of sciences meets american professor stanley spector ... 16

021718 -- begum nusrat bhutto arrives in peking to warm welcome ... 21

021719 -- liao cheng-chih meets japanese friends ... 23

021724 -- chou en-lai, chi peng-fei, chiao kuan-hua continue talks with dr. kissinger ... 27

021725 -- delegation representing iran imperial organization for social services leaves peking ... 27

021727 -- peking reception marks p.i.a. inaugural flight to peking ... 28

021728 -- japanese friend kinkazu saionji and his party arrive in peking ... 30

021729 -- liao cheng-chih, yang chi fete japanese friend kinkazu saionji and his party ... 30

021730 -- chinese foreign minister meets first ambassador to china of people's democratic republic of yemen ... 31

021731 -- chinese stadium study group leaves for sierra leone ... 31

021732 -- canadian table tennis association president arrives in peking ... 31

021733 -- leader of bulgarian government trade delegation arrives in peking ... 31

3

<table>
  <tbody>
    <tr>
      <td>021734</td>
      <td>vice-president of hongkong football association leaves peking</td>
      <td>33</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>021735</td>
      <td>ashes of late charge d'affaires a.i. and interpreter of chinese embassy in lusaka brought to peking</td>
      <td>32</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>021737</td>
      <td>british secretary of state sends message on earthquake in szechwan</td>
      <td>33</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>021738</td>
      <td>pakistan minister of state sends message of sympathy on earthquake in szechwan</td>
      <td>34</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>021744</td>
      <td>chinese medical association leader meets american health delegation</td>
      <td>38</td>
    </tr>
  </tbody>
</table>

INTERNATIONAL

<table>
  <tbody>
    <tr>
      <td>021641</td>
      <td>pak jung hi clique repeatedly violates north-south korea joint statement</td>
      <td>2</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>021642</td>
      <td>south vietnamese army and people celebrate anniversary of reunification of p.l.a.f.</td>
      <td>1</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>021703</td>
      <td>u.s. wholesale prices continue to rise in january</td>
      <td>7</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>021706</td>
      <td>chinese medical delegation leaves kenya for home</td>
      <td>9</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>021707</td>
      <td>nigerian paper salutes south african workers' strikes</td>
      <td>10</td>
    </tr>
  </tbody>
</table>

5

021739 - albanian leader receives korean government delegation ... 35

021740 - cuba, u.s. sign hijacking agreement ... 34

021741 - canadian government imposes controls on crude oil exports to u.s. ... 34

021742 - wuhan acrobatic troupe of china concludes visit to sri lanka ... 36

021743 - madam bhutto leaves islamabad for china ... 40

021745 - special representation of r.s.v.n. to d.r.v.n. issues appeal of four-party central joint military commission ... 38

021746 - photo exhibition on china held in tokyo ... 39

021747 - strike by surinam workers spreads... 40

021748 -- chairman mao tsetung meets dr. kissinger

peking, february 17, 1973 (hsinhua) -- chairman mao tsetung met dr. henry a. kissinger, assistant to the u. s. president for national security affairs, tonight in chungnanhai. they had a frank and wide-ranging conversation in an unconstrained atmosphere. at the end of the conversation, chairman mao asked dr. kissinger to convey his regards to president nixon.

present at the meeting were chou en-lai, premier of the state council, wang hai-jung, assistant minister of foreign affairs, and interpreters tang wen-sheng and shen jo-yum.

dr. kissinger was accompanied by winston lord, a member of his staff, end item

p-1a

021642 -- south vietnamese army and people celebrate
anniversary of reunification of p. l. a. f.

hanoi, february 16, 1973 (hsinhua) -- the ministry for
national defence of the provisional revolutionary government
of the republic of south viet nam and the command of the
south viet nam people's liberation armed forces held a
grand meeting at a place in the south viet nam liberated
area on the evening of february 13 to celebrate the 12th
anniversary of the reunification of the south viet nam
people's liberation armed forces, according to gpa.

representatives of the p.r.g. of the r.s.v.n., the central
committee of the south viet nam national front for liberation
and the central committee of the south viet nam alliance
of national, democratic and peace forces were present.

representatives of many armed units, arms and heroes'
units of the s.v.n.p.l.a.f. as well as representatives of
the organs and organizations at the central and regional
levels were also present.

tran nam trung, minister of defence of the p.r.g. of the
r.s.v.n., made a speech at the meeting.

recalling the militant history of the s.v.n.p.l.a.f.
in the past 12 years, he praised the intimate friendship
of the three indo-chinese peoples in their common struggle
and thanked the friends in the five continents for their
warm support to the vietnamese people's struggle against
u.s. aggression and for national salvation. he strongly
condemned the u.s. and the saigon regime for violating the
agreement.

he called on the various armed forces to heighten their
vigilance at all times and to be always ready to smash all
the schemes of the enemy to sabotage peace and nibble at
the liberated areas.

tran nam trung pointed out that the various armed forces
must be an army which excels in work and production and
contributes, together with the people of the whole country,
to the rapid healing of the war wounds and the building of
a peaceful, independent and democratic south viet nam of
national concord.

then, huynh tan phat, president of the p.r.g. of the
r.s.v.n., warmly commended the meritorious services of the
s.v.n.p.l.a.f. on behalf of the central committee of the
s.v.n.n.f.l. and the p.r.g. of the r.s.v.n.

he said: "in the past 12 years, our armed forces had carried
on the most heroic fighting and achieved splendid merits,
adding glory to the magnificent tradition of the nation.
they are worthy of being called a heroic army of the heroic
nation."

he also referred to the militant tasks of the south vietnamese
people in the new situation, he pointed out that peace
has been restored but it has not been consolidated, the
aggressors are harbouring the illusion of maintaining new
colonialism in south viet nam, thus, the south vietnamese
people must carry forward the victories already won and
strengthen unity in the spirit of national concord so as to
strictly implement the agreement, defend peace and
strive for genuine independence and democracy, end item

021641 — pak jung hi clique repeatedly violates north-south korea joint statement

pyongyang, february 16, 1973 (hsinhua) — the pak jung
hi clique of south korea since the beginning of this year
has repeatedly violated the north-south korea joint statement
published on July 4 last year and the provisions agreed
upon by the two sides, thus continuing to create obstacles
to the independent, peaceful reunification of korea.

since the beginning of this year, the south korean
authorities have shipped into south korea from abroad
large quantities of war materials and equipment to
accelerate the "modernization" of the equipment of the
armed forces of south korea and repeatedly held military
exercises with north korea as the hypothetical enemy.
ryoo jai heung, "minister of national defence" of the
pak jung hi clique, disclosed at a press conference early
this year his intention to maintain the strength of the
south korean armed forces, clamouring that it was necessary
to "be more on guard so as to be superior to the armed
forces of north korea", etc. the south korean navy held
"naval bombardment exercise" and "naval manoeuvres"
last month and this month. the south korean puppet
military authorities also conducted an "anti-airraid
training among the civilians" in the entire south korea.

p-2

the south korean air force dispatched high altitude reconnaissance planes and other aircraft to fly over the military demarcation line for 17 times in january alone. on february 15, the south korean authorities sent military aircraft into north korean air space along the chudong-ri line in the central sector of the military demarcation line to make provocations.

recently there have been over 100 cases of south korean troops firing on the north from the southern side in the demilitarized zone. all this shows that the south korean authorities are doing their utmost to create tension.

furthermore, the pak jung hi clique has also slandered the efforts made by north korea for the independent, peaceful reunification of the fatherland and advocated subservience to foreign forces in betrayal of the national interests of the korean people. in violation of the provision in the north-south korea joint statement concerning the realization of reunification independently without foreign interference, "premier" kim jong pil of the pak jung hi clique said that the stationing of u. s. troops in south korea is a matter of great "importance" and begged the u. s. troops to stay there permanently.

to sabotage the independent, peaceful reunification, the pak jung hi clique recently clamoured loudly for "anti-communism" and "prevailing over communism". it strengthened the machinery of fascist suppression and stepped up the persecution of the south korean people and opposition party which called for an independent, peaceful reunification of korea. ryoo jai heung clamoured at the beginning of this year that "the most important thing now was to be armed with the anti-communism spirit". the ministry of culture and education of the south korean puppet regime stepped up the education on "prevailing over communism" and announced that the so-called "the ethics of anti-communism" be made a "required course" in schools.

it is worth noting that in his so-called "new year's inspection tour" pak jung hi deliberately ordered that "the anti-communism law and the national security law" be "supplemented and perfected", further intensifying the fascist suppression of the south korean people. according to these fascist decrees the pak jung hi clique

p-3

can arbitrarily arrest, imprison and sentence people who sympathize with and praise north korea and call for intercourse and talks between south and north korea.

the korean people in the south and in the north denounced the above-mentioned criminal acts committed by the south korean authorities in obstructing the independent, peaceful reunification of korea. the korean paper "rodong sinmun" in a recent commentary said: "facts have shown that the south korean authorities have violated more and more seriously the north-south joint statement and the provisions agreed upon by both sides which they had solemnly pledged to implement before the whole nation, and acted in contrary to the desire of the nation and the tide of the time."

"the south korean authorities must stop their violations of the north-south joint statement and the provisions agreed upon by both sides and must implement them honestly," the commentary added.

"minju choson" warned in a commentary that if the south korean authorities acted against the trend of history and of the time, they would have to bear before the country and the nation the unshirkable, serious criminal responsibility and would be sternly tried before the tribunal of history and the people. end item

021701 -- east china peasant girls reclaim land

foochow, february 17, 1973 (hsinhua) -- a team of peasant girls in east china's fukien province have turned slopes on a scrub-covered hill into fertile fields and fruit orchards in seven years.

the paddy rice they grew on the hill yielded ten tons per hectare last year. since starting the reclamation work, they have produced 130 tons of grain for the state.

the wutoushan hill, which is about seven kilometres around the base, had remained neglected because the nearest village is five kilometres away and the roads were bad. In the spring of 1966, 14 girls from the tsuimei production brigade of shancheng people's commune in nanching county volunteered for the job, in response to the call of the brigade party branch.

p-4

the team is headed by wang hsiu-hua, secretary of the communist youth league branch. it is one of the many reclamation teams active in mountainous fukien province. they reclaim land and plant trees on barren mountain slopes. each team is a unit under the administration of a brigade and included in the brigade's economic accounting.

wang hsiu-hua and the other girls made their billet by the side of a reedy swamp with scores of sturdy trees around. they decided to turn the swamp into a paddy field. they walked into the stinking, stagnant water, and started cutting reeds and felling trees. they were stung by wasps, but they did not complain. in a matter of a dozen days they turned the swamp into a field and planted early rice. later they reclaimed 1.4 hectares of slope land and planted late rice. they harvested eight tons of rice and nine tons of sweet potatoes that year.

their next project was to improve the field and raise output. in the spring of 1970 they began to dig ditches to drain off excess water, but no sooner would they dig a hole than the silt and water oozed up and filled it up again. the brigade party branch sent experienced peasants and militiamen to help them. they drove in piles alongside the ditches and fenced off silt with straw matting. the drainage work was successful.

in a little over one month, they dug nine ditches totalling 900 metres in length. each was 1.8 metres wide and 1.5 metres deep. in this way, the excess water was drained from the field.

then they applied heat radiating fertilizer to improve soil on three hectares. that year, rice output rose from 3.5 tons to nine tons per hectare.

the team members also opened up land in the mountains to grow fruit trees and other plants. they now have more than 12 hectares under pineapple, bananas, lichees and longan trees and citrus groves, one hectare of sugar-cane and 13 hectares of pine and cypress trees. efforts have been made to grow tea and medicinal herbs.

p-5

with the increase in collective funds, they bought two small tractors, built a small hydro-electric station and a workshop for husking rice and processing fodder. they put up housing and storage rooms with bricks and tiles they made themselves. they also raised livestock and poultry.

the team runs an evening school in which its members study works by marx, engels, lenin and stalin and chairman mao's works, and agro-science. they do military training at fixed times as militiamen.

the party branch of the tsuimei production brigade and former poor peasants have educated the girls in carrying forward the revolutionary tradition of hard struggle. at the very beginning of the project, the party branch sent its deputy secretary and a veteran peasant to help the team members arrange their living conditions and work out a reclamation plan. brigade cadres often went up the hill to help the girls sum up their experience.

now the reclamation team has 68 members. they are maturing rapidly in the course of transforming nature. fortytwo of them have joined the communist youth league and five were admitted into the chinese communist party. twentyfour-year-old team leader wang hsin-hua was elected a member of the lunghsi administrative regional committee of the party. end item

021702 -- good results of rural scientific experiments in south china province

kwangchow, february 17, 1973 (hsinhua) -- a new strain of typhoon-resistant rice, measures against rice borers and other pests, hybrid maize and sorghum strains which raise output 30 per cent -- these are some of the fruitful results of the rural mass movement for scientific experiments in kwangtung province last year.

members of rural people's communes, scientists and agro-technicians co-operated in the efforts.

the new rice strain has short stalks, ripens early and gives a high yield. it is an effective answer to the typhoons which hit coastal kwangtung frequently, lodging rice plants.

p-6

measures evolved against the borer and other rice pests include a borer-killing bacillus and the breeding of a species of wasp that wipes out the pests.

achievements of the chaochou-shantou area in popularizing improved rice strains show the importance of mass participation in scientific experiments, under the guidance of the party organization, former poor peasants hung chun-li and hung chun-ying evolved in 1958 the province's first short-stalk rice strain, this prevents rice plants from lodging in a typhoon.

since then, communes and brigades throughout the area have engaged in cultivating good seed strains, experimental plots were set aside for seed breeding, and full-time personnel was put in charge of seed storage and relevant work, scientists, technicians and research workers joined the commune members in summing up and popularizing experience so as to keep on improving the quality of seeds, measures were devised to prevent the short-stalk rice strain from degeneration and, in recent years, a still better strain has been introduced for still higher yield, paddy fields throughout the area are now grown to improved rice strains.

the party organizations at all levels in kwangtung province pay attention to arousing the socialist enthusiasm of the scientists and technicians in the mass movement, summing up experience, and undertaking theoretical study, cadres, experienced peasants and educated young people in the countryside have joined forces with scientists and technicians in the campaign, at present, more than 1.3 million people in the province are engaged in agricultural scientific experiments, end item

021703 -- u. s. wholesale prices continue to rise in
          january

peking, february 17, 1973 (hsinhua) -- wholesale prices in the united states rose 1.3 per cent in january, the u. s. labor department announced on february 15, according to reports from washington, this was the second month of wholesale prices' increase.

just like last december, farm and food prices led the
increase, prices of farm products and processed foods

and feeds jumped 3.3 per cent in january.
prices for livestock, vegetables, live poultry, eggs,
milk, etc., were all up, and prices for metals, lumber,
wood products, hides and leathers also moved up.

based on a 1967 average of 100, the wholesale price
index stood at 124.5 in january seasonally adjusted,
7.1 per cent above a year earlier. over the past six
months the index has been rising at a seasonally
adjusted annual rate of 8.9 per cent. the u.s. labor
department report presaged large increases in consumer
prices as a result of the sharp advances in wholesale
prices, end item

021704 -- industry grows on small island off east china coast

foochow, february 17, 1973 (hsinhua) -- pingtan island off the east china coast has some 30 industrial enterprises that generate electric power, build ships and fishing boats, process fish products, and make cement, textiles, fishing gear and farm implements. their products total more than 1,000 in variety.

the communist party and people's government have led
the islanders in building industry in the spirit of hard
struggle and self-reliance.

pingtan, the biggest of a group of islets that make up
pingtan county, had virtually no industry before liberation,
except for a flour mill and some smithies and carpentry
shops.

the county-run shipyard was built during the great
leap forward in 1958. starting with small wooden boats of
less than 20 tons, the workers are now building 120-ton
coastal ships with machine tools of their own make.

since fishing accounts for three-fifths of the island's
gross output, its industry is geared to fishery. in addition
to a county-run fishing gear plant and a fish processing
plant, there are fishing gear repair shops in the
communes and brigades. fishing boats, including motor
junks complete with net hoists, are made locally.

p-8

industrial development has also provided agriculture with more farm machines and implements, the county-run farm machinery plant turned out 3,000 pumps, threshers and rice transplanters in 1972, threshing, transportation and farm produce processing are mechanized or semi-mechanized in many farming production brigades.

workshops have also been built to make cement and
TIME from shells, there is a handicraft workshops making
art objects with colourful shells, its output value in
1972 was six times that in 1965, before the great proletarian
cultural revolution began, end item

021705 -- kuo mo-jo, hsieh hua meet iranian imperial social services organization delegation in peking

peking, february 17, 1973 (hsinhua) -- kuo mo-jo, vice-chairman of the standing committee of the national people's congress, and hsieh hua, leading member of the ministry of public health, met and had a cordial and friendly conversation here this morning with dr. majid rahanema and all members of the delegation representing the iran imperial organization for social services he is leading.

Iranian ambassador to china abbas aram was present.

also present were tsao ke-chiang, wu chieh-ping, chu chao, chin mao-yueh and hsu shou-jen, leading members of departments concerned under the ministry of public health and the ministry of foreign affairs, end item

021706 -- chinese medical delegation leaves kenya for home

dar es salaam, february 16, 1973 (hsinhua) -- the delegation of the chinese medical association led by doctor chen chung-wei left nairobi for home today after attending the annual scientific conference of the east african medical research council and concluding a friendly visit to kenya, according to a report from the kenyan capital.

yesterday, kenya's junior minister for health s.
oloitiptip and mayor of nairobi miss maragaret kenyatta

p-9

received all members of the chinese medical delegation
and had warm and friendly conversations with them. charge
d'affaires ad interim of the chinese embassy in kenya
wang hui-min was present on both occasions. end item

021707 - nigerian paper salutes south african workers'
strikes

Lagos, february 16, 1973 (hsinhua) -- the nigerian
paper "renaissance" saluted in an editorial yesterday
the african workers' recent strike in durban, the largest
port on the eastern coast of south Africa.

the editorial says, the massive strike action by over
sixteen thousand african and coloured workers in durban
area, south africa, "must be seen as a real political challenge
to the regime in pretoria", and "a great act of political
courage".

the editorial points out: "the strike action marks
new upsurge in political awareness of africans. it at once
exposes vulnerability of apartheid as a political system."

the editorial adds: "we salute the africans who took
part in the strike action for their courage and steadfastness,
and we hope that it will mark the beginning of the protracted
revolutionary struggle that will bring apartheid to an end
and install a democratic system." end item

021709 - chinese women's speed-skating team leaves
for world championships in sweden

peking, february 17, 1973 (hsinhua) -- a seven-member
chinese women's speed-skating team led by chao hsiang
enplaned here today for the 1973 world championships
in sweden. end item

021710 - chinese ice-hockey team leaves for european
tour and world championships

peking, february 17, 1973 (hsinhua) -- a chinese ice-
hockey team with fu ching-chih as leader and wang shao-
chiu as deputy leader left here by air today for friendly

p-10

visits to italy and the federal republic of ger many
and to take part in the world championships in the
netherlands, end item

021708 -- people's commune in tibet ends poverty by collectivization

Lhasa, february 17, 1973 (hsinhua) -- former serfs of southern tibet's liehmai area 4,000 metres above sea level have ended their poverty and turned the area into a granary in the past 14 years.

after serfdom was abolished during the democratic
reform in 1959, these people started agricultural co-
operation in the next year. the liehmai people's commune
in lungtzu county was established in 1967 and has
become a pace-setter in the tibet autonomous region.

the farmland of the commune is nearly double that
14 years ago. in 1971 it produced 360 tons of grain
and raised 10,000 head of livestock, 118 per cent and 146
per cent higher than in 1959, respectively. last year
it had a good harvest despite bad weather. its members
attribute all these to their firm implementation of
chairman mao's revolutionary line on getting organized
and taking the socialist road.

under serfdom in pre-liberation days, the serfs were
enslaved and persecuted as "beasts of burden". in the
forty years before 1959, 28 people in the 183 serf
households starved to death, 18 were flogged to death or
killed by manorial lords, and 55 had to flee elsewhere.

emancipated serfs and former poor peasants set up 21
mutual-aid teams in 1960 in response to chairman mao's
call "get organized exclamation" they combined these
teams into six big ones in 1965. liehmai commune came
into being in september 1967. as a result, production
grew rapidly, showing the superiority of the collective
economy.

Llehmai is located east of the himalayas. its 16
villages are scattered in the gullies between ten hills.

the commune now has 70 hectares of farmland which the
local people wrested from nature by hard work. a

p-11

tract of flat land on the south side of a mountain
has fairly good soil. the people had wanted to reclaim
it but could not under individual farming or small mutual-
aid teams. they had the strength to begin only in 1966.
that spring, led by the party branch secretary of the
area, a 40-member group began the reclamation.

the land was strewn with stones and weed-covered,
the reclaimers opened up a dozen hectares in two months
and grew barley and rape that year. after the autumn
harvest, they formed a 120-member group to continue the
project in the winter. by the time of spring farming in
1967 they had opened 50 hectares,

the women of Liehmai volunteered to do farm work while
the men were reclaiming the land. led by a member of
the party branch committee of the area, they defied
the centuries-old superstitious taboo against women
ploughing.

work to dig a canal winding along the mountains
started in the spring of 1967 to lead in water from
a river some nine kilometres to the land they had opened.
a shock brigade of 30 people worked hard on a big cliff,
20 metres high and 33 metres wide to make the channel.
it was hard to find footholds on the cliff, so the brigade
members worked in mid-air, suspended from ropes, one
builder held a long steel chisel while another, swinging
a heavy hammer, struck it to prepare holes for blasting.
in ten days of hard work, they blasted a way through
the cliff to complete the canal.

as the first water flowed through the canal, the
people cheered time and again: "long live
chairman mao exclamation"

since then the commune has had one good harvest after
another. it sold 276 tons of surplus grain to the state
from 1967 to 1971. grain stored by the commune
came to 16.5 tons. the commune has 30,000 yuan in its
public welfare fund and accumulation fund. the commune
has bought two walking tractors and many other farm
machines. the living standards of the commune members
have improved. most of them have bank deposits.

the commune stood the test of bad weather and other
difficulties in 1967, 1970 and 1972.

p-12

several inches of hailstones fell in July 1970, followed by a mountain torrent. half the commune's crops were affected.

the commune members swung into action and removed the hailstones, repaired the ditches, erected the plants, loosened the earth, and applied more fertilizer. party members and other members of the commune worked for several days on end. local leadership and armymen came to help. the commune members reaped a good harvest that year, totalling 348 tons of grain. this equalled the output of 1969, a good year. the commune's livestock numbered 8,300, or 14 per cent more than that of 1969.

the commune was hit by a severe drought in 1972. Land was parched and cracked. the commune members dug 62 ditches totalling 186 kilometres, and repaired and dug 12 ponds in two months. these irrigation facilities protected the grain crops that year and improved the farmland. end item

021711 -- chinese acrobatic troupe's performance tour in chile

peking, february 16, 1973 (hsinhua) -- following is a dispatch from santiago by a hsinhua correspondent covering the performance tour of the shenyang acrobatic troupe of china in chile:

from january 13 to february 6, the shenyang acrobatic troupe of china, after winding up its performance tour in the united states, visited chile in its hot summer season.

the shenyang acrobatic troupe is the fourth art troupe that china sent to chile after 1956. it is also the first chinese art troupe to visit latin america after the great chinese proletarian cultural revolution. chilean president salvador allende and chilean government leaders at all levels showed their great consideration for the chinese troupe. the president told the troupe at a reception: your visit "will reinforce the ties of friendship between the people's republic of china and this country."

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before the chinese acrobats were to perform at a big
open-air music hall in the city of vina del mar, mayor
raul paez had the stage broadened by one third in
three days to meet the requirements of the performance.
on january 20, an old worker named caneo and a number
of his colleagues worked from 8 a.m. to 4 a.m. the next
morning. although blind in his left eye, the old worker
climbed atop a high scaffolding and worked there. when
members of the chinese troupe thanked him, he said, "i am
proud of being able to work for the shenyang acrobatic
troupe of china. i hope that the cultural exchange
between our two countries will grow steadily."

the troupe gave its premiere in the city on january
21. the mayor brought along his whole family to see the
performance. he told his chinese friends when they talked
about the warm welcome the acrobatic troupe had received:
"we are struggling for state sovereignty and national
independence. we feel we are especially at home with
the chinese people."

one of the performances in the music hall attracted an
audience of 18,000. the music hall is situated at
the back of a hill in the pacific gulf. when the performance
was on, the thunderous applause and cheers from the audience
and the roars of the waves of the pacific responded
to each other.

in concepcion, every time when the curtain called,
large groups of spectators came up to the stage, asking
for autographs of their chinese friends or expressing
their friendship towards them.

an old lady who suffered from paralysis in her two
legs, made a special trip by train from osorno, nine
kilometres from santiago, to see the performance in the
capital. she took her seat with the help of her son and
grand children and enjoyed the show very much.

the chinese acrobatic troupe also visited factories
and villages during its performance tour in chile.
on january 19, accompanied by chinese ambassador to chile
lin ping, the troupe visited the "sumar" textile mill
in santiago and had a happy get-together with the workers.
on that day president allende was staying there on
inspection. in the workers' canteen the president

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delivered a speech of warm welcome and invited the chinese guests to a lunch there. a chilean worker who had been to china sang in chinese the song "the east is red". then the chinese acrobats gave an impromptu performance.

on January 31 the troupe visited the chinaware factory in penco and gave a small performance there. some 1,200 workers and employees gave them a very warm welcome. the workers requested the members of the troupe to convey their greetings to chairman mao and their best regards to the chinese people. a technician said, the friendship between the chilean and chinese peoples is profound because "we are on the same side, fighting on the same front."

the troupe also visited a state farm in o'higgins province and gave an impromptu performance there which was warmly received by the farm workers, students and young workers from the nearby farms.

through the troupe's 24-day performance tour of chile, we are deeply convinced that it is the common desire of the peoples of chile and china to strengthen their ties of friendship and cooperation and that the friendship between the two peoples -- a friendship built on the basis of the common struggle against colonialism and imperialism -- is impregnable.

the hard-working and heroic chilean people have a glorious fighting tradition in their struggle against colonialism and imperialism.

on february 3, some members of the troupe paid a visit to the square of heroes in rancagua, the capital of o'higgins province. at the square stands an equestrian statue of general o'higgins, the famous national hero of chile who led the chilean people in their resistance against the spanish colonial rulers in the 19th century. the magnificent statue inspires us with profound respect for the glorious revolutionary tradition of the chilean people.

the chilean people are now engaged in an indomitable struggle in defence of state sovereignty and national independence and for the development of national economy.

the same day the troupe visited a major copper
manufacturing plant of chile. this plant, formerly
owned by the american and other foreign capital, was
taken over by the chilean government in september 1971.
since then its output has grown by 50 per cent.
a technician, pointing to a bundle of cables, told
the chinese visitors: "the imperialists have asserted
that we chileans would not be able to manufacture sea-bed
and sub-way cables, but since the take-over of the
plant, we have succeeded in making cables by our own
efforts." he also took pride in telling us that this
plant had fulfilled ahead of schedule the orders for cables
for building a sub-way in santiago. during our visit
to its workshops, many workers extended to us their
greetings to the chinese people and workers.

during their stay in chile the chinese artistes
availed themselves of the opportunity to learn the
chilean national music, a song called "beautiful chile"
reads in part: "chile, beautiful chile, we love you so
much that if we are called to lose life for you, we will
give it to you." this song gives an expression to the
lofty patriotism of the chilean people, it also reflects
their strong will to carry on the struggle in defence
of their national interests, the revolutionary
spirit of the chilean people is forever worthy
of our learning, end item

peking, february 17, 1973 (hsinhua) -- wu yu-
hsum, vice-president of the academy of sciences of china,
met here today with professor stanley spector, director
of the centre for east asian language and area studies of
washington university, st. louis, missouri, u. s. a.
leading members of chinese organizations concerned and
scientific workers including pan chun and chu teh-hsi
were present at the meeting.

professor stanley spector arrived in peking on
february 11 on a friendly visit to china at the invitation
of the chinese academy of sciences.

while in peking, he visited industrial, agricultural and educational sites and toured scenic spots and places of historical interest. he had discussions with chinese scientific and educational workers. end item

021714 -- cambodian ministers call on buddhist monks in enemy-occupied areas to rise against lon not clique

peking, february 17, 1973 (hsinhua) -- khieu samphan, vice-prime minister and minister of national defence of the royal government of national union, hou yuon, minister of interior, communal reforms and cooperatives, and hu nim, minister of information and propaganda, issued on february 10 a statement to the buddhist monks in the enemy-occupied areas, according to an aki report on february 15. the statement denounces the counter-revolutionary crimes committed by the traitorous lon not clique and calls on the buddhist monks to struggle against and overthrow it.

the statement points out, "at present, the u. s. imperialists and the gang of traitors, lon not, sirik matak, son ngoc thanh, in tam and company, are feverishly playing the deceptive tricks of 'peace', 'ceasefire' and 'concord among the khmers' in their traitorous 'republic'."

the statement cites abundant facts to expose the numerous counter-revolutionary crimes committed by traitor lon not and his ilk since 1955 in collaborating with the imperialists to undermine cambodia's independence and suppress the cambodian people including the monks. it says, this gang of traitors "have been serving the imperialists" and "have never been standing on the side of our nation and our people".

the statement says, lon not and his ilk play the deceitful game of pseudo-peace and so-called ceasefire with the aim of making "the cambodian people, all the cambodian patriots and ourselves lay down the arms and bow to their traitorous republican regime".

the statement says: "what we want is a genuine peace, not a sham peace, nor a peace in slavery and servitude. we want a peace in freedom, independence and sovereignty, a peace in which our nation and people decide their

own destiny by themselves without being dependent on
any other countries."

the statement exposes various crimes committed against
the monks and buddhism by lon not and his ilk.

it calls on the monks in phnompenh and other cambodian
cities temporarily controlled by the enemy, to unite
with the cambodian people and the people's national
liberation armed forces under the banner of the national
united front of cambodia, "wage struggles in various forms to
drive u. s. imperialism and all its foreign lackeys
out of our beloved motherland, overthrow the traitors
lon not, sirik matak, son ngoc thanh, in tam and company,
and build a truly independent, neutral, peaceful, sovereign,
democratic and prosperous cambodia in its territorial
integrity." end item

021715 -- pathet lao radio condemns attacks by u. s.
and vientiane authorities on liberated areas

peking, february 17, 1973 (hsinhua) -- the pathet
lao radio in a commentary broadcast yesterday condemned
the united states and the vientiane authorities for
large-scale military actions against the liberated
areas.

the commentary said: "on february 15, the united
states and the vientiane authorities sent a great
batch of b-52s to conduct destructive bombing raids
on sala phou khoun area, a number of places in
xieng khoang province, pak song town, saravane city and
muong pha lan area. in addition, over 100 sorties of
tactical planes bombed and strafed a number of
important places in xieng khoang and savannakhet
provinces and in lower laos.

the commentary pointed out that vientiane troops,
vang pao's "special forces" and thai mercenary troops
were also moved to launch large-scale offensives
against the liberated areas of the patriotic forces
from the north to the south of the country. in the
south in particular, they mobilized over 20 battalions of
vientiane puppet troops and thai mercenary troops for
"nibbling" attacks on the liberated areas of the

bolovens plateau and saravane and mustered dozens
of battalions for such actions on muong pha lan and
other liberated areas.

these actions of the united states and its lackeys,
the commentary pointed out, have cast a dismal
shadow over the vientiane talks and run counter to
the aspirations of the entire lao people and public
opinions for the quick restoration of peace in laos.

the commentary called on the entire lao armed forces
and people to further heighten their vigilance and
continue to hold fast to their weapons so as to
repulse enemy attacks most resolutely and fiercely
and smash all its adventurous acts. end item

021713 -- cambodian people's armed forces win new victories

peking, february 17, 1973 (hsinhua) -- the cambodian
people's national liberation armed forces (c.p.n.l.a.f.)
have won fresh victories after fierce attacks on the enemy
on various fronts, according to aki.

from the night of february 8 to the morning of february
10, the c.p.n.l.a.f. repeatedly attacked the enemy defence
system in kompong thom city and the enemy positions at
trapeaing verng, killing and wounding over 150 enemy troops.

from the night of february 7 to the following day,
the c.p.n.l.a.f. in takeo province uprooted an encampment
of the lon mol puppet troops in pau rorgn on highway 2,
wiping out more than 120 enemy troops and capturing a great
number of war materials, the c.p.n.l.a.f. attacked on the
enemy strongholds in samrong yaung, chambak and prey sandek
on the night of february 8 and the following day, putting
out of action over 80 enemy troops and shooting down one
t-28 plane and one helicopter.

in an assault on the outer position of the enemy in svay
rieng city on the night of february 7 and the following
day, the c.p.n.l.a.f. in svay rieng province knocked
out about 50 lon mol puppet troops, destroying three
enemy barracks and one ammunition depot.

on february 9, the c.p.n.l.a.f. in prey veng province
took an enemy stronghold in banam on highway 15, annihilating
over 60 enemy troops.

from the night of february 9 to the following morning, the c.p.n.l.a.f. in kandal province launched attacks on an enemy stronghold in kompong chamlang, wiping out and capturing over 90 enemy troops. they also attacked on the morning of february 10 a series of the enemy strongholds and barracks along highway 1 in kien svay district. preliminary statistics show that a total of over 200 enemy troops were wiped out, a great number of weapons and other war materials were captured.

In their attacks on many enemy strongholds along highways 1 and 15 on february 6, 7 and 10, the people's armed forces wiped out over 540 enemy troops and captured a number of weapons and dozens of tons of war materials.

from the night of february 6 to the following day, the regional people's armed forces in battambang province attacked the enemy strongholds in cham rorka and other hamlets, knocking out over 80 enemy troops, end item

021716 -- chinese ambassador to pakistan gives reception to celebrate p. i. a. inaugural flight to peking

rawalpindi, february 16, 1973 (hsinhua) -- chang tung, chinese ambassador to pakistan gave a reception in islamabad tonight to celebrate the inauguration of flight from karachi to peking by the pakistan international airlines (p. i. a.).

present at the reception were abdul hafeez pirzada, minister of education and culture and provincial coordination; maulana kausar niazi, minister of information and broadcasting, augaf and haj; malik meraj khalid, chief minister of punjab province; ghias uddin ahmad, secretary general of the defence ministry; muntaz a. alvie, secretary of the ministry of foreign affairs; vice-admiral h.h. ahmad, chief of staff of the pakistan navy and m. rafique saigol, p. i. a. general manager and other high ranking government officials of pakistan.

the reception proceeded in a warm and friendly atmosphere.

the p.1.a. regular flights from karachi through rawalpindi and peking to shanghai began officially on january 20. end item

021717 -- tanzanian military delegation leaves pyongyang

pyongyang, february 17, 1973 (hsinhua) -- the military delegation of the united republic of tanzania headed by e.m. sokoine, minister of defence and national service, which had visited korea on the invitation of the ministry of people's armed forces of the democratic people's republic of korea, left here by plane yesterday, according to kcna.

the guests were seen off at the airport by general choe hyon, minister of people's armed forces; lieutenant general pak jung guk, deputy chief of the general staff of the korean people's army; other generals and officers of the korean people's army; li song hi, vice-minister of foreign affairs; and song gi tae, d.p.r.k. ambassador to tanzania, end item

peking, february 17, 1973 (hsinhua) -- begum nusrat bhutto, wife of pakistan president zulfikar ali bhutto, arrived here by an airliner of the Pakistan international airlines corporation (p.1.a.) this afternoon on an official visit to china. she was greeted by cheers "warm welcome to begum nusrat bhutto exclamation" and "hail the p.1.a. inaugural flight to peking exclamation"

the p.1.a. airliner carrying begum nusrat bhutto took off from islamabad at 8:30 a.m. peking time, passed through rawalpindi and touched down at peking airport at 4:50 p.m. peking time.

the entourage of begum nusrat bhutto comprises: maulana kausar niazi, minister for information and broadcasting, haj and auqaf; begum hafeez pirzada, wife of the minister of education; miraj khalid, chief minister of punjab, and begum miraj khalid, wife of the chief minister of punjab; begum h.h. ahmed, wife of the chief of naval staff; begum zafar chaudhry,

p-21

wife of the chief of air staff; begum abdul hameed khan,
wife of lt. general abdul hameed khan; begum aftab ahmed
khan, wife of maj. general aftab ahmed khan; arshad
sami khan, deputy chief of protocol of the ministry
of foreign affairs; and miss shama aslam, secretary to
begum nusrat bhutto.

at peking airport which flew the national flags of
pakistan and china, begum nusrat bhutto and other
distinguished pakistan guests were warmly welcomed by
vice-premier li hsien-nien, and his wife lin chia-mei;
vice-foreign minister han nien-lung and his wife
wang chen; chi fang, lin chiao-chih and to shu-chang,
members of the standing committee of the national
people's congress; women vice-ministers chen mu-hua and
chien cheng-ying; kuang jen-nung, director-general
of the general administration of civil aviation of
china, and his wife niu hsiu-chen; ma jen-hui, deputy
director-general of the general administration of
civil aviation; ting kuo-yu and hsieh ching-yi, members
of the standing committee of the peking municipal
revolutionary committee; as well as three thousand
peking people.

on hand were pakistan ambassador to china agha shahi
and pakistan embassy officials. iranian ambassador
to china abbas aram was also present.

begum nusrat bhutto alighted from the plane in
high spirits and warmly shook hands with vice-premier
li hsien-nien, lin chia-mei and others and
accepted a bouquet from a chinese girl, accompanied
by the chinese hosts, the pakistan guests walked
around to greet the well-wishers who waved flowers
and colour streamers, the three hundred armed
militiawomen gave begum nusrat bhutto a
military salute, girls dressed in holiday costumes
danced happily to express the profound feelings of
the chinese people toward the pakistan guests.
streamers held by the welcoming crowds read "resolutely
support the pakistan people in their just struggle
to defend national independence and state sovereignty
exclamation" and "long live the friendship between
the people of china and pakistan exclamation"

madame teng ying-chao greeted begum nusrat bhutto at
the guest house.

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arriving in peking with begum nusrat bhutto were more
than sixty guests from pakistan, iran, egypt, kenya.
france, italy, britain and the united states invited by the
pakistan international airlines corporation to attend the
celebration of the p.i.a. flight to peking and visit china.
among them were pakistan parliamentary members, local
officials, judges, lawyers, distinguished personages,
newspaper editors, reporters, columnists and photographers.

present at the airport were also leading members of
chinese departments concerned including teng kang, tung lin,
yang kung-su, kuo tung-chun, yeh cheng-chang and kao chien-
chung. end item

021719 -- Liao cheng-chih meets Japanese friends

peking, february 17, 1973 (hsinhua) -- liao cheng-chih,
president of the china-japan friendship association, met
with japanese friends here today. they were the south
tokyo friendship delegation with juzo sugimoto as its leader
and eijiro harigaya as deputy leader, and the kanto and
koshinetsu friendship visiting group of the japan-china
friendship association (orthodox) with kenshi kuwaki as
its leader. liao cheng-chih had a friendly conversation
with the japanese friends.

among those present at the meeting were leading members
of chinese organizations concerned sun ping-hua, chang yu,
lin lin and chen kang. end item

021720 -- Peruvian premier appeals for Latin American
unity

Lima, february 16, 1973 (hsinhua) -- general
edgardo mercado jarrin, peruvian premier and minister
of war, said yesterday that the latin american countries
should form a single bloc in their efforts to secure
international recognition of the right to 200-mile
territorial sea, according to press reports here.

premier mercado jarrin made these remarks after a
visit to the national office of juridical affairs.

he said that the Latin American countries will
go unitedly to the meeting on the law of the sea which

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["will be held in geneva next year. \"it is of great importance today that before going to the geneva meeting, we all the latin american countries reach agreement on those minute differences that exist in concurrence,\" he said. \"we should form a single bloc as the base to reach a final agreement, that is, the international law of the sea.\"", "referring to venezuela's support for the thesis of 200 miles as contained in the joint statement of the venezuelan and peruvian presidents, the peruvian premier said, \"we have once again obtained venezuela's support for the peruvian thesis,\" end item", "021721 -- d. r. v. n. foreign ministry spokesman denounces u. s. bombing of cambodia", "hanoi, february 17, 1973 (hsinhua) -- the spokesman of the foreign ministry of the democratic republic of viet nam issued a statement yesterday severely denouncing continued u. s. bombing of cambodia.", "the statement noted that the united states has kept sending aircraft including b52s for incessant massive bombings of cambodia. this is a new crime perpetrated by u. s. imperialism and its lackeys against the cambodian people in total disregard of the progressive public in the world.", "the statement said: \"the vietnamese people and the d. r. v. n. government fully support the february 12 statement of the r. g. n. u. c. foreign ministry's spokesman, we strongly condemn this criminal move of the u. s. and its lackeys in cambodia, and resolutely demand that the u. s. stop the bombing and all acts of intervention and aggression in cambodia, and respect the cambodian people's fundamental national rights.\" end item", "021722 -- egyptian press condemns renewed Israeli provocations", "

"al ahram" said: "the flare-up of military operations on both egyptian and syrian fronts shows that the enemy is still persisting in his provocations in continuation of his policy of escalating aggression."

these new provocations have proved the falsehood of
all the Israeli authorities' pretences about its keenness
on avoiding armed confrontation, the paper added.

however, the paper said, such provocations will
never attain Israel's objectives.

"al akhbar" said: "the aim of the recent Israeli provocations is to terrorize the arabs and pressurize them into accepting a settlement that satisfies Israel's conditions, a settlement that serves Israel's expansionist designs."

"the way the egyptian and syrian forces repelled the new Israeli attacks shows that we shall not yield to any terrorism or pressure or accept any settlement on Israel's terms," the paper said.

it noted that Israel's recent allegation that "all is
quiet in the middle east" aims at taking the edge off the
world's concern over the crisis and diverting its attention
from Israel's expansionist ambitions.

the paper stressed: "we are determined to liberate
every inch of our occupied land and restore the rights
of the people of Palestine." end item

021723 -- 40th anniversary of romanian workers' general strike marked in romania

bucharest, february 16, 1973 (hsinhua) -- the 40th anniversary of the romanian workers' general strike in 1933 was marked in various parts of the country in the last few days, according to agerpres.

a mass rally was held here today with the participation
of party and government leaders comrades nicolae ceausescu,
Ion gheorghe maurer, manea manescu, paul niculescu-
mizil, gheorghe radulescu, virgil trofin and ilie verdet.

the rally was also attended by veteran fighters
of the party and the workers' movement who had taken

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