The Uses of Charm and Chill

When they opened the door to more realistic relations with the U.S., China's leaders undertook a trying and delicate task. They had to talk tough enough to persuade their militant allies that they were not going soft on their longtime archenemies, yet not so tough as to sour the impending visit by Richard Nixon. The act requires some intricate diplomatic fugues, but so far Peking appears to be equal to the challenge.

In its press, over banquet tables and in chancelleries the world over, China is making a prodigious effort to reassure its concerned friends. The weekly Peking Review has told the North Vietnamese that China is "your reliable rear area," crooned to Albania that "our hearts are closely linked," promised North Korea to "share weal and woe and fight to the end to defeat the common enemy." Last week at a Peking dinner for visiting Algerian Foreign Minister Abdelaziz Bouteflika, China's Vice Premier Li Hsien-nien made an all-purpose pledge to "stand by the Algerian and other Asian, African and Latin American peoples and the revolutionary people throughout the world."

Let 'Em Come. When a really bravura performance is required, it is likely to come from the man most responsible for the Nixon invitation, Premier Chou Enlai. The latest example came during the 31-day visit to China by a group of 15 graduate students from the Committee of Concerned Asian Scholars--all Americans, and all characteristic of the growing body of U.S. scholars who are strongly sympathetic to the Maoist experiment in China (see EDUCATION). Chou was at his best, showing genuine private warmth toward the students, but public firmness bordering on hostility to their government. For the benefit of the world at large, Chou turned on the chill. He reeled off China's basic positions: that its sovereignty over Taiwan must be recognized, that the U.S. treaty with the Nationalists is "illegal, null and void," that Peking alone must represent China in the United Nations, that the U.S. must withdraw not only from the "dirty war" in Viet Nam but "also from the whole of Indochina."

Then came the charm. "In our country," Premier Chou told his appreciative guests, "you would be considered high intellectuals, and you have a heavy responsibility." He also observed approvingly that "American youth is gradually raising its political consciousness." Chou forecast that "when you go back you will introduce new American friends to us. Also some black friends. Let them all come to China to have a look. Of course, we will also return the visits."

Characteristic Smoothness. At one point, Susan Shirk, 26, a Ph.D. candidate in political science from M.I.T., asked--with a hint of dismay--how it happened that Richard Nixon had been invited to Peking. Chou was almost apologetic in his reply: "In contacting your Government to normalize relations, we must contact those who are in authority in your country. The governments of the two countries will bear the main responsibility for the normalization of relations between the two countries." With characteristic smoothness, he leaned toward the young scholar and added: "If Susan Shirk were the President of the U.S., then the matter would be easy to solve. But the problem is not so simple."

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