Mao Tse-tung and Lin Piao showed up in Tienanmen square in Peiping for May Day after a public disappearing act that lasted more than six months. With them on the rostrum was a deposed prince, Norodom Sibanouk of Cambodia, who had been denouncing the Chinese Communists as avaricious aggressors only a few months before.
Millions of demonstrators responded to the Mao-thought demand for noisy protests against the American and South Vietnamese defense of Cambodian freedom and independence. There were persistent reports of sizable troop movements to the Chinese mainland-North Vietnam border. A few thousand Chinese Communist special forces were said to have entered Cambodia to establish a headquarters for Sihanouk's government-in-exile.
Peiping propagandists beat the drums of war once again. For the moment the United States had replaced the Soviet Union as the principal whipping boy. But reports of Peiping-Moscow rapprochement on Indochina were false. The Russians declined to recognize Sihanouk's rump establishment. Neither side responded to the other's bid for a common policy on Cambodia.
The May 1 ceremonies at Tienanmen were dominated by military figures. The military was present on the reviewing stand in larger numbers than even its dominant position on the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee would justify. Events in the countryside showed that there was still need for the military controls that Mao had to establish during the course of the "great proletarian cultural revolution".
Purges and mass public trials were reported from various parts of the mainland. Victims often were charged with espionage and sabotage. Shanghai and other cities were having trouble with young people who returned from the countryside and tried to live on the proceeds of robbery and other crimes.
Nothing much was said about the military implications, but these obviously existed as the Chinese Communists placed a 380-pound satellite in orbit. The launching suggested that the regime soon will be stockpiling medium-range ballistic missile that could hit any free Asian target. As more sophisticated instrumentation becomes available, the Peiping regime will have spies in the skies over the Soviet Union, United States-and Taiwan.
One of the month's interesting developments was Peiping's increasingly aggressive attitude toward the Japanese government of Eisaku Sato. The Chinese Reds got under Sato's skin with charges that Japan is rearming in preparation for a resumption of militarism. Sato angrily responded that Peiping is bent on war. He said Japan rejects "two Chinas" and bases its recognition policy on the legitimacy of the Republic of China.
Aside from Cambodian outbursts, Chinese Communist propaganda outlets devoted more time and space to berating Japan than to denunciations of the United States or Soviet Union. Japanphobia extended to the Canton trade fair, where the Japanese had sent more than 1,000 traders in hope of the biggest orders ever. They were received coldly and business volume was down. Peiping seized upon the occasion to announce that it would not do business with Japanese companies which had trade or investment relationships with the Republic of China or partnerships with the Americans.
The attacks on Japan seemed to involve Sato's friendship with the Republic of China and his determination to extend the mutual defense treaty between Japan and the United States through the 1970s.
Peiping was making claims of industrial progress. Part of this involved revival of the backyard furnace concept. A new propaganda line holds that the backyard production of steel failed not because it was a crackpot idea (of Mao's) but because of Liu Shao-chi's sabotage. No industrial production figures have been given. The claims of progress were doubtful. The Chinese Communists said gains were a culmination of advances made during the "cultural revolution". Actually, industrial production was close to collapse at the height of the Maoist power-seizure movement.
This is the record of mainland and related events during the period from April 20 through May 19.
April 20
"Premier" Chou En-lai told Japanese that trade and travel were side issues and that nothing could be done about relaxation of tensions with the United States "until the Taiwan problem is settled".
People's Daily admitted that railroad transportation on the Chinese mainland was in a state of chaos. The paper complained about the inefficiency of workers, of endless conflicts and of sabotage on a number of lines.
April 21
Reports from Hongkong said Shanghai is infested with young hoodlums who live by theft and engage in street fighting. Most have returned from rustication in the countryside. A traveler returning from the mainland's largest city said Shanghai rice rations are 26 catties for a man, 22 for a woman and a maximum of 18 for children.
April 22
Mainland executions have been in progress for two months in a new purge, according to Chinese reaching Hongkong from Kwangtung province. Arbitrary death sentences are being handed down by "people's courts", which are mass meetings controlled by the Maoist machine.
Moscow and Peiping renewed their war of words on the eve of Lenin's centennial. Radio Moscow said Mao Tse-tung had betrayed Marxism-Leninism. Radio Peiping charged Brezhnev and other leaders of the U.S.S.R. with being "renegades of Leninism". An 18,000-word attack on the Soviet Union appeared in People's Daily, Red Flag and Liberation Army Daily.
Returning from a month in Peiping, Tomoo Hiro-oka, president of Asahi Shimbun of Tokyo, said the Chinese Communists were digging underground shelters. Primary school children and workers start the day with military training.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird said Peiping might have intercontinental missiles by 1973 but probably would not be a serious nuclear threat until the 1980s. He added, however, the ICBMs would give the Chinese Reds the capability to threaten the United States with nuclear blackmail.
April 23
Japanese Prime Minister Eisaku Sato said he stands by a 1967 statement that the Chinese Communists are a menace to Japan. He said the Peiping regime is armed with nuclear weapons, has refused to join in measures to prevent nuclear proliferation, is on a war footing and "is not a member of the international community".
Peiping said the economy of the Soviet Union is "a terrible mess". By contrast, said a "New China News Agency" article, the economy attained "vigorous development" under Lenin and Stalin. Things were bad under Khrushchev and have worsened under Kosygin and Brezhnev, the article added.
April 24
Peiping sent an "ambassador" to Sudan, the 21st dispatched in the last 11 months and the fourth in April. Only the envoy in Cairo stayed in place at the height of the "cultural revolution". Charges d'affaires headed staffs of missions in some 45 countries for three years.
Ousted Prince Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia was reported attending a conference of left-wing Indo-china leaders in Canton.
NCNA claimed that the mass production of automobiles had begun in Chengchow in North China, raising to 23 the number of provinces, cities and regions in which vehicles are made. No production statistics were given. Few vehicles are to be seen in photographs of mainland cities.
The U.S. State Department will establish a Hongkong center to process refugees from mainland China for entry into the United States. The center has been urged by Senator Hiram Fong of Hawaii for the last three years.
Prime Minister Eisaku Sato denounced Peiping's "premier" Chou En-lai for "distorting facts" in his charge that Japan is reviving militarism. He said Chou was guilty of interference in the internal affairs of Japan. Japan, he said, would not be indifferent to any Chinese Communist attack on Taiwan.
April 25
Peiping announced it had put a 380-pound satellite in orbit. The United States said the launch came as no surprise and said it shows Chinese Communist progress toward development of intercontinental ballistic missiles. The satellite was tracked by the U.S. North American Air Defense Command at Colorado Springs.
Tass reported that the Chinese Communists had demonstrated outside the Peiping embassy while the Lenin centennial reception was in progress. The Russians said the demonstrators carried portraits of Mao Tse-tung and shouted anti-Soviet slogans.
Communist banks in Hongkong and Macao announced a fixed deposit scheme to attract additional deposits. The Peiping regime appeared to be attempting to obtain acceptance of the jenminpi (JMP) as an international currency.
April 26
Diplomatic reports in Vienna said Red China had dispersed key nuclear installations over a wide area as part of preparations for possible war with the Soviet Union. One of the dispersal areas is Tibet.
U.S. experts said the Chinese Communists will have 80 to 100 intermediate-range missiles by the mid-1970s, sufficient to mount a major attack on any Far Eastern targets.
Peiping lashed out at India anew, claiming that New Delhi was pursuing an expansionist policy and occupying large tracts of Chinese mainland territory.
Yugoslav sources said Norodom Sihanouk apparently had left Peiping. The Chinese Communists stopped publishing reports of his activities.
April 27
Red China announced it would hold its third 1970 meeting with the United States at Warsaw May 20. This would be the 137th session since the talks began at Geneva.
NCNA said the Chinese Communists would back the people of Indochina in the struggle against "U.S. imperialism". A Hongkong newspaper said Peiping was recruiting volunteers to fight in Cambodia. The United States brushed off the Peiping warning and said it was aware of reports that Red China was preparing to send combat forces into Cambodia.
Peiping told of mainland-wide celebration of the satellite launching. Reports in Hongkong said a big show in Canton fizzled out in only three hours.
Rome sources said recognition talks were proceeding secretly between the Italian government and Peiping. The Italians said they would not break relations with the Republic of China as demanded by the Red Chinese.
Izvestia charged the Chinese Communists with milking the population of basic needs in order to militarize the economy.
King Jugme Dorji Wangchuk of Bhutan said the Chinese Communists may have killed the Panchen Lama.
April 29
Peiping renewed attacks on Prime Minister Eisaku Sato and charged he was plotting the remilitarization of Japan in league with the United States.
Moscow said the Soviet Union has no intention of attacking Red China but that the Peiping regime is sending additional troops north and constructing more fortifications along the border.
A clandestine radio station heard in Hongkong said the satellite launching was a triumph for the Chinese Communist armed forces but not for the thought of Mao Tse-tung. The army was urged to oppose Mao and "defense minister" and heir-apparent Lin Piao. The broadcast in Mandarin said nuclear weapons and satellites had to be developed to protect the mainland against Russian invasion.
April 30
Chou En-lai attended a summit meeting of Indochina Communists, according to North Vietnam sources in Paris. Also present were Norodom Sihanouk, North Vietnam Premier Pham Van Dong and Viet Cong and Pathet Lao leaders.
London sources said Le Duan, North Vietnam's party chief, had gone to Peiping to seek additional support for the war in Vietnam. He had been in Moscow on a similar mission. The Russians were said reluctant to increase their role in the Vietnam war but fearful of an augmentation of Peiping's influence.
Peiping said it doesn't want aid from either the U.S.S.R. or United States. The regime claimed that former U.S. Secretary of State Dean Acheson and Soviet party chief Leonid Brezhnev had maintained the Chinese Communist could not survive without external assistance.
Frederic Nossal, a Canadian newspaperman with experience in Peiping, said Peiping is asking "too high a price" for Canada's recognition and that agreement is not likely soon. He said in Hongkong that Chinese Reds insist that Ottawa accept their claim to Taiwan.
May 1
Peiping reported that Mao and Lin Piao had conferred with Norodom Sihanouk. Chou En-lai was also present. It was the first appearance of Mao and Lin in more than six months. Sihanouk and the Red Chinese leaders appeared on the rostrum at Tienanmen in Peiping to watch a May Day fireworks display.
Three farmers swam to freedom in Hongkong while the Communists were celebrating May Day and the launching of a satellite. One died and another was hospitalized because of exhaustion in the seven-hour swim.
May 2
Red China announced prohibition of trade with four Japanese companies: Sumitomo Chemical Co., Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Teijin and Asahi-Dow Ltd. Chou En-lai had announced that Peiping would not trade with any company which had commercial relations with the Republic of China.
May 3
Chou En-lai said the United States was engaged in a "deathbed struggle" in Indochina and that Red China would fight "shoulder to shoulder" with the Communists there. The North Vietnamese carried excerpts from Chou's speech to an Indochina summit conference called by Norodom Sihanouk.
Japanese businessmen were told by Chou En-lai that they could not expect to trade with Peiping if (1) they supported the Republics of China or Korea, (2) had investments in Taiwan or South Korea, (3) sold goods to the United States for use in Vietnam, Laos or Cambodia, or (4) cooperated with U.S. subsidiaries in Japan.
Commenting on U.S. intervention in Cambodia, Peiping said President Nixon had resorted to "imperialist gangster logic". The broadcast said the United States is prepared to launch "wars of aggression at will".
Peiping charged the Indian government with mustering ruffians to stage an anti-Peiping demonstration at Patna, the capital of Bihar state.
May 4
Hongkong sources said the continuing mainland purge of "class enemies" was taking villagers away from their families for weeks of brainwashing. Border checkpoints had been reinforced and there was much talk of spies.
Walter J. Stoessel, the American ambassador to Poland and chief U.S. spokesman for the Warsaw talks, said he will seek improved relations with Peiping but that commitments to the Republic of China will not be compromised.
May 5
Norodom Sihanouk established a "government-in-exile" at Peiping and the Chinese Communists broke relations with the Cambodian government of Lon Nol. Red China said it would withdraw its personnel from Phnom Penh.
People's Daily described the entry of American troops into Cambodia as a "mad provocation" and pledged to support allies in Indochina "with all our forces".
May 7
Intelligence reports said 1,200 Chinese Communist officers and 3,000 special troops had entered Cambodia via North Vietnam and established a headquarters for Norodom Sihanouk. Many of the Chinese Communists were said to have been in Cambodia before and to be familiar with the language.
In Seoul, Dr. Chang Pao-shu, secretary-general of the Central Committee of the Kuomintang, told President Park Chung Hee that Red China can be expected to send volunteers to Cambodia.
India charged Red China with sending warships into the Indian ocean.
May 8
Millions of Chinese Communists demonstrated against the U.S. involvement in Cambodia, according to NCNA:
Vasily Kutznetsov, first deputy foreign minister of the U.S.S.R., returned to Peiping to resume border talks with the Chinese Communists. He had gone to Moscow in April for the Lenin centennial.
Anti-Communist guerrillas were reported to have sunk three tankers at Sansui, a river port 40 miles west of Canton.
May 9
Peiping accused the Lon Nol government in Cambodia of holding 64 members of the Red Chinese staff in Phnom Penh.
Prime Minister Eisaku Sato said Japan does not support the idea of "two Chinas". He said Japan had chosen to regard the Republic of China as the only legitimate government of China and that this choice should be upheld. Japan is prepared to hold ministerial-level talks with Peiping, he said, to improve relations.
May 10
Hongkong reports said saboteurs set fire to four warehouses and blew up a public security bureau in Canton on May 1. Radio Kwangtung appealed for information and promised that informers would be rewarded.
NCNA said the Peiping regime had launched a 10,000-ton freighter built without foreign assistance. The agency claimed that to produce the framework, a trough was dug and an oil furnace installed to heat the steel to more than 1,000 degrees C. Shipyard workers then allegedly defied the intense heat to hammer the ribs into shape.
London said that tungsten and antimony prices remained high largely because of Red China's reluctance to sell.
Peiping boasted it had attained self-sufficiency in petroleum. No figures were given. The regime claimed that 150 petroleum products and by-products were shown at the Canton trade fair.
May 11
Export prices at the Canton trade fair were up about 10 per cent, according to businessmen returning to Hongkong. Because of war preparations, there were no sales of steel, tungsten and some nonferrous metals.
Some Japanese manufacturers barred from trading with Red China said they would accede to Peiping's conditions. Included were the Kawasaki Steel Corporation, Sumitomo Metal Industries Ltd. and six companies of the Ammonium Sulfate Manufacturers Association.
Mao Tse-tung and Lin Piao met with Le Duan of North Vietnam. He had seen Chou En-lai earlier.
May 12
General Lon Nol, the prime minister of Cambodia, said the Chinese Communists tried to make a bargain with him before they recognized the government-in-exile of Norodom Sihanouk. They asked continued use of Cambodia sanctuary and supply routes for the Viet Cong in return for acceptance of Sihanouk's successors in Phnom Penh.
Lt. Gen. James M. Gavin, ret., who served in Vietnam, said the United States may become involved in war with Red China as a result of intervention in Cambodia.
May 13
Peiping said that mainland industry is producing fiberglass. More than 100 products are made, representing a 100 per cent increase since start of the "cultural revolution", the broadcast claimed.
May 14
More than 100 Macao Chinese who returned to the mainland for the Ch'ing Ming festival were missing. Many of those who got back to the Portuguese colony were closely questioned by Chinese Communist cadres.
Reports from the mainland said the Chinese Reds were making another "great leap forward" attempt with medium and small-size iron-smelting furnaces resembling those of 1958. The earlier attempt was a fiasco but Radio Peiping was claiming good results from the new "backyard furnaces" as a result of the application of Mao Tse-tung's thought. The broadcast spoke nostalgically of the 1958 furnaces and said the earlier attempt was frustrated by the opposition of Liu Shao-chi.
London sources said Le Duan, the North Vietnamese party chief, was attempting to mediate between the Chinese and Russian Communists. Peiping was said to have asked Moscow to follow its lead in recognizing Sihanouk's government-in-exile. The Soviet Union still had not done so.
May 15
London said Moscow had decided against cooperating with Peiping against the Americans in Cambodia. The Russians were represented as willing to continue military aid to North Vietnam but not to go into Indochina more deeply.
The Glen Line and Blue Funnel Line of the Ocean Steamship Group ended century-long calls on the Chinese mainland because of ship and officer detentions by the Chinese Communists.
May 16
New massacres involving several hundred people in five Kwangtung counties were reported by intelligence sources. The victims were identified as "reactionaries and anti-Maoists".
May 17
Peiping claimed "tremendous success" for the Canton trade fair. Japanese sources said European countries had increased their trade volume at the expense of Japan. NCNA said more than 10,000 foreign traders visited the fair.
Kawasaki Steel Corporation, one of Japan's big six, said it was negotiating with Red China for steel exports.
May 18
Pravda accused Peiping of undertaking long-range preparations for war with the Soviet Union. The same editorial accused the Maoists of splitting the Communist bloc and encouraging U.S. military intervention in Cambodia. The Mao regime was compared with that of Hitler.
Red China canceled the scheduled May 20 Warsaw meeting with the United States on grounds that American action in Cambodia had created a "grave situation".
May 19
Red China turned down a Soviet offer of an anti-American front in Indochina, according to London sources. Le Duan of Hanoi was said to have carried the offer from Moscow to Peiping.