Border Incident

Bustling into the Himalayan kingdom of Nepal on the way home from his trip to India last spring, Red China's Premier Chou En-lai wore his sunniest friendship grin. Mouthing sentiments of peace and solidarity, Chou happily played the role of Nepal's big brother in Asia, signed a Treaty of Peace and Friendship with Nepal's Premier B. P. Koirala that was designed to soothe border frictions.

Last week Chou sent a special note to Nepal's Foreign Office to assure it that Red Chinese troops pursuing Tibetan rebels would not violate Nepal's borders (thereby admitting for the first time that there was a rebellion in Tibet). Two days later, a Chinese Communist party attacked a Nepalese border patrol, killed one officer, kidnaped 17 Nepalese.

Nepal took alarm; the Nepalese Senate passed a resolution calling for military training for boys and girls over 14 years old, and Koirala fired off a protest.

For once Chou seemed almost embarrassed, hastily ordered a complete investigation, at week's end apologized profusely. "The scheme of imperialists to make use of this incident to spread slander and show discord between China and Nepal will never succeed," said he. Despite Chou's protestations, the incident proved once more that Red China has an astonishingly casual attitude toward the borders of its neighbors.

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