Take That! And That!!

For nearly a decade, the Chinese and Soviets have amused or alarmed the world with some of the most acerb political invective ever hurled across a border. Last week, after nearly a month of studied politeness, the two archantagonists tore into one another for the first time in the General Assembly of the United Nations. The occasion was a debate over the old Soviet proposal for a worldwide conference on disarmament, a concept that both the U.S. and China reject as unworkable.

"Bragging [and] boasting are of no avail," declared China's chief delegate Chiao Kuan-hua, his voice rising with emotion. "If the Soviet government truly has the desire for disarmament, the Soviet representative should solemnly declare that at no time and in no circumstances will the Soviet Union be the first to use nuclear weapons, and that it will dismantle all nuclear bases and withdraw all nuclear weapons and means of delivery from abroad. Distinguished Soviet representatives, do you dare to do so?"

By now Chiao was pointing at Soviet Ambassador Yakov Malik. "If you are man enough, you will do it. But if you have a guilty conscience and an unjust cause, you will not dare to do so, because although you appear to be tough outwardly, you are in fact timid inwardly. We are certain that you will not dare to do so. Is this not true? Please reply!"

Malik was quickly on his feet accusing the Chinese of "class betrayal," propounding "false theories." As for Peking's charge that the U.S. and the Soviet Union seek to run the world as a superpower "duet," Malik replied that what the Chinese want is "to become a super superpower." Peking's serve.

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