China probably stands next to Algeria and Cuba in popularity among the vevolutionary-minded peoples of the African continent. .
FRANCE TAKES ANOTHER STEP TOWARD RECOGNIZING CiiTNA
A copyrighted interview with Edgar Faure, published in the January 9 issue of the conservative Paris daily Le Figaro, has set the chancellories of all the major Western powers buzzing. Edgar Faure is the unofficial diplomatic representative of de Gaulle who recently visited Peking, a trip that was widely interpreted as an opening play © by the French government in a game that could end in recognition of the Mao government, The.interview, deftly conducted by Roger Massip, is obviously another calculated step in the preparations.
‘The purpose of the interview - is to. lay on the table all the possible arguments that could be made against recognizing China, whether these arguments originate in French circles, in Washington, Moscow, New Delhi, or even Taiwan, and to answer them with the most powerful considerations that can be brought to bear by an enlightened capitalist power, Faure's performance, it must be agreed, is very effective.
First of all, he establishes that his trip to Peking took place in consultation with de Gaulle and that the possibility of French recog= nition was discussed with Mao and received a favorable response. Thus there can scarcely be much doubt about the seriousness of de Gaullets. moves in this direction.
The main argument advanced by Faure in favor of recognition is the reality of the situation, “If China does not exist," he said, “she has neither trade nor culture. If she exists, our economic and cultural relations must find their pivot in normal’ political representation," Faure contends that China exists,
NrTt turns,' Galileo said, speaking of the earth, ‘It exists,' we say tirelessly in speaking. of China,'
On the affront to Chiang Kai-shek that recognition would signify, Faure held that it is an “absolute fiction" to maintain that Chiang rules China... Nor can it be maintained with any plausibility that China belongs to Formosa and therefore comes under Chiang!s jurisdiction. Chiang himself does not maintain such an idiotic position,
Faure dealt with the argument that Mao had wished for a nuclear war that would destroy half of humanity, leaving the other half to build a happy new Communist civilization. Such quotations, he said, should be verified before being commented on. Although he had searched through the "extraordinarily abundant" works of Mao Tse-tung, he had been unable to find the quotation. The statement of 1957, which has often been referred to, was a “verbal declaration contested by the one to whom it is ‘attributed, n
Faure thought that the Chinese were "perhaps wrong in not suffi-~ ciently fearing atomic war but that doesn't mean that they have the intention of starting it. Besides, there is this simple consideration: "How can it be explained that the only great power that wants atomic war should be precisely the one that doesn't have the means to do it?"
In addition, the view ascribed to the Chinese has been characterized by their adversaries as taken from the "dusty Trotskyist archives," so how can it be held to be a Maoist view? [Faure, naturally, didn't bother to explain that the view ascribed to the Trotskyists is also slanderous, |
Faure's sharpest arguments were directed at Washington. Here he played it with cool cheek, maintaining that the "greatest service" that could be rendered to “American policy" is if Paris takes the initiative and recognizes China. "This initiative is, in fact, easier for us than it is for the American leaders. ... Because of former | errors, which need not be imputed to the present leaders, the Asian policy’ of the United States is today in a blind alley. n
The State Department indignantly issued a retort to Faure, denouncing the argument that recognition of China by France would be a "ser
vice," There may be some hypocrisy in this declaration, however. A certain sector of the Américan capitalist class has long favored a more realistic policy toward China, which would have to begin, of course, with recognition of the Mao regime, With the development of the Moscow~-Peking dispute to the breaking point last summer, this sector grew quite rapidly. ._The influential New York Times, often considered to be the most sober voice of Wall Street, has pressed this point of view in its editorial columns since the Moscow-Peking split,
The contention of the Times is that without recognition, it is | not possible to take full advantage of the differences between Moscow and Peking. It is highly doubtful, however, that Peking would lend itself to the divisive game Wall Street's mouthpiece has in mind,
The U,S,