A Bellyful of What?

Had Pakistan overplayed the welcome? Not as far as visiting Communist Chinese President Liu Shao-chi was concerned. But President Mohammed Ayub Khan, his host, seemed to be having second thoughts last week as Pakistanis gave Liu, 68, and Foreign Minister Chen Yi, 65, the headiest welcome ever accorded state visitors to their country. After tumultuous greetings in Rawalpindi (TIME, April 1), perhaps 1,000,000 people poured into the streets of Lahore, the old Mogul capital, sprinkling rose water into the path of the Chinese, heaping flower petals on Liu's car, shouting "Long live Pakistan-China friendship!" It was the greatest celebration since Independence in 1947, and, predictably, in spots it had a distinctly anti-American flavor. Young toughs waved "Chinese yes, Yankees no" signs, taunted U.S. newsmen with shouts of "white skinned monkeys" and "Yankee bastards." "We cannot altogether control the response of our people," muttered one Pakistani official lamely.

Control or not, Pakistan's "nonaligned" government was clearly taken back by the outpouring, obviously concerned over what Washington's reaction might be. To take away some of the sting, Foreign Minister Zulficar Ali Bhutto called a special press conference for Western newsmen, gave assurance that Pakistan, despite its friendship with China, would "do nothing to endanger relations" with "friend" and "ally" America, would "not be a party to any scheme that will injure the United States." There had been no negotiations on military assistance from Peking, Bhutto asserted. Then he went on to belittle the handful of Chinese-supplied T-59 tanks and MIG-19 jet fighters featured in a military parade the previous week as "a few deliveries from a new source."

Ayub himself did not seem too comfortable as the five-day tour wore on. At Islamabad, where Pakistan is building a new capital, Liu planted a Chinese tallow tree, declaring, "We hope that it grows and flourishes like the friendship between Pakistan and China." Asked Ayub, in his clipped Sandhurst English: "It becomes a big tree, does it?" And at a banquet where Liu unexpectedly offered not only a toast but also a prepared text for the press, the Pakistani President--more likely in reference to the meal than the occasion--intoned coolly, "I hope you have all had a bellyful."

Pakistan steered cautiously all the way to the final communique. If the Chinese, woefully short of friends these days, had hoped for a Pakistan denunciation of the U.S. role in Viet Nam, they were in for a disappointment. The communique at visit's end contained not one word on the subject.

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