Mixing Business with Mourning

Carter and China's Hua talk informally in Tokyo

Squalid politics," fumed Republican Senator John Tower of Texas. G.O.P. National Chairman Bill Brock sniffed that Jimmy Carter "has a lot of nerve even showing up in this city." But there he was smack-dab and unrepentant in Detroit, the capital of an auto industry that has been forced to lay off one-third of its workers. While the Republicans were getting ready to throw their big bash and coronation, Carter swept through town en route to Japan and illustrated the power of a President to steal headlines from his opponents by acting on problems they can only denounce.

Carter had been warned by a White House memo that "if we cannot get auto and steel problems reasonably resolved, these issues alone will cost us Pennsylvania, Michigan, Ohio, Indiana and Missouri." During a 40-minute meeting with auto executives that began at 7:05 a.m., the President announced an aid program that could add up to $1 billion for the auto industry (see ECONOMY & BUSINESS).

Carter then flew on to Tokyo, a 14,740-mile, two-day trip that was primarily a symbolic gesture of amity toward an ally, Japan, and a new friend, the People's Republic of China. The occasion was a memorial service for Japanese Prime Minister Masayoshi Ohira, who had died June 12, shortly before his Liberal Democratic Party swept to a resounding election victory. Among the dignitaries attending was Chinese Premier Hua Guofeng, whom Carter was eager to meet.

The President had no business to discuss with his Japanese hosts. It was hardly the occasion on which to bring up the problem of Japan's booming auto exports to the U.S. (22% of total U.S. auto sales last month). Besides, as an aide to Transportation Secretary Neil Goldschmidt noted, at the moment "there is no Japanese government to negotiate with."

To honor Ohira, Carter sat through a two-hour service in the Budokan, a martial-arts hall redecorated for the occasion. Premier Hua, dressed in a gray Mao jacket, was in the front row and, although the two men did not meet, they looked firmly at each other, as though each was taking the other's measure.

At the close of the memorial service, all 243 foreign dignitaries filed past an urn containing Ohira's ashes. Each made a low, formal bow, the traditional Japanese gesture of respect, except Carter, who barely nodded his head. But the Japanese, not expecting a newcomer to follow protocol, were not upset by Carter's performance. Later, however, Carter clearly startled Ohira's widow with a display of American informality while paying a call on her. He greeted her with a kiss, then slipped his arm around her waist when leading her into the Ohira family home.

Before meeting with Hua, Carter gave an interview on Japanese television designed to ease increasing Soviet worries that the U.S. and China were about to gang up on the Soviet Union. Said the President of the U.S.-China moves: "We believe that this relationship should not be used by either country against the Soviet Union. We should not combine our efforts against another nation, but we should combine our efforts to maintain peace."

Though he had been up for 24 hours before finally getting to bed, Carter rose early the next morning for his session with Hua--15 minutes alone, an hour accompanied by aides. The meeting proved to be informal and spontaneous. Hua impressed the Americans as witty and candid. At one point, while his interpreter was droning through a pompous English translation of the Chinese official line, the Premier grinned broadly at Carter. Later, Hua used an American cliche to put down Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, who has accepted $1.6 billion in Soviet aid in exchange for Indian recognition of the Soviet-backed puppet regime in Cambodia. Mrs. Gandhi, said Hua, had decided to "take the money and run."

The two leaders unveiled no new policies, but found much to agree about. They encouraged each other to supply more arms to Thailand, which in June repelled a border incursion by the Soviet-backed Vietnamese. Hua told Carter that he had seen TV pictures of American planes unloading howitzers in Thailand. It was, he said, a "wise and important" move.

The President tacitly indicated that the U.S. would be silent about Chinese military moves along its 480-mile border with Viet Nam, short of outright war. The Chinese keep 250,000 to 300,000 Vietnamese troops occupied along that border. Hua backed U.S. efforts to get the Soviets out of Afghanistan and promised Carter that the Chinese would not question U.S. moves in the Middle East. He expressed "very, very strong" support for American efforts to acquire military bases in Kenya, Oman and Somalia as a counterweight to Soviet influence in the Persian Gulf region.

On the sensitive issue of U.S. arms sales to China, Carter told Hua, "We want to move cautiously." Hua was careful in turn. Summed up a Carter aide: "The Chinese don't want to spend big bucks now anyhow."

Though U.S.-Chinese friendship is based more on a shared fear of Soviet adventurism than on a common world view, Carter found more apparent support from Hua than he has received lately from some of America's allies in Europe. Indeed, when the President told Hua that he had met with "mixed success" in selling his policy views in Europe, the Chinese Premier chuckled sympathetically at the understatement.

The next day, Carter flew to Alaska, where he rose at 4 a.m. Alaska time to don his waders and go by helicopter to a remote area north of Anchorage to fish for trout and grayling. The catch: 24 grayling. Then it was off to Sapelo Island, Ga., where he planned to watch the nomination of the man who hopes to move into the White House next January.

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