1971_05 The Daily Collegian May 1971

              COLLEGIAN FORUM
opinions expressed in Collegian
editorials. Including feature-
editorials and commentaries by
guest writers, are not neeeskar-
w ef Fresno State CoUege
ie student body.
President Nixon 'made one thing perfectly clear*
1 at his White
House press conference last week. He has no intentl
on of yielding
to the demands of the People for an Immediate end
to the war to
Indochina.
Despite a Gallop poll showing 73 per
want total withdrawal of U.S. forces from Vietnam by the end of 1971
— *■■ s outpouring of anti-war sentiment in Washington, D.C.
and San Francisco, Nixon Is prepared to continue the slaughter and
destruction until aU American POW's are released and the corrupt
Saigon regime Is able to continue the UUing on IU own. In other
words, for another year or ten or twenty, ad
a Vietnamese and NLF have said Ume and
the POW question will be resolved when U.S. forces pull out of Southeast Asia. Talks can begin once Nixon
drawal. There Is no reason to doubt Hanoi's sincerity. North Vietnam returned France's POW's two months after the French wlth-
•Vletnamlzatlon' Is a hoax because lt seeks to extend U.S. Involvement tn Indochina by proxy after the withdrawal of American
troops. The reason Is quite obvious. Nixon does not want self^
determination for the Vietnamese people as he claims, but a corrupt
government to Saigon to oversee and protect American'Interests.'
Those Interests are, among others, the burgeoning opium trade and
the rich oil deposits waiting to be exploited hy American oil companies off the coast of Vietnam. Those interests are ln continuing
the war-profits of American corporations raping the Third World
and satisfying the hunger of the Pentagon's cold war anti-rommunlst
psychology.
Nixon hides the economic motives' behind the war, while he justifies prolonging lt on the grounds his policy or "gradual withdrawal"
Is Intended to 'ensure not only the peace now but the peace of future
generations.*
Surely, he doesn't expect the American people to swallow that kind
of crap. Not only is his Ideal of lasting peace a sharp departure
from his pragmatic philosophy but an idealistic view of the world tn
which we live. A country, such as the United States, with military
and economic entanglements around the world and a system based on
•   profit and the exploitation of Third World people cannot avoid war
aids. IlNlxon will not end the war,
- by any means necessary.
-Burton Swope
COMMENTARY
War takes toll on Vietnam landscape
By Steve Soriano
Lyndon B. Johnson, now a retired  American politician, once
said that 'the best guide to what
One of the things we have been
doing at home Is spraying farms,
lawns, highway medians and vacant lots with herbicides (weed
killers). Something called 2,3,5-
T Is the most common one used;
it has been sprayed on over five
per cent of the U.S. Unfortunately,
It does a lot more than kill weeds.
2,3,5-T   was  being used near
goats were born dead or deformed, and his chickens stopped
laying eggs. Then trees started
to die. Children got sick. And
finally women in the area began
to have miscarriages; and many
had their reproductive organs
removed.
Possibly 30 per cent of South'
Vietnam has now been sprayed
with 2.3,5-T thirteen times more
concentrated than that permitted
X>4NST1=WAR17JENNIFER
IN PERSON
PILLOW CONCERT
THURSDAY MAY 6, 8 P.M.
FSC MEN'S GYM
TICKETS AT COLLEGE UNION BOX OFFICE
or from members of THETA CHI  FRATERNITY
| $150 PRE SALE •*J9&«-* $2.00 AT THE DOOR
By Capitol Reccpfds, Re
THE DAILY COLLEGIAN
wants to defoliate the trees. But
It sprays 2,3.0-T directly on
'unfriendly- villages. Unfriendly
villages are those in which any
of the people are sympathetic to
the Viet Cong. This Includes almost all the villages ln South
Vletna
The American
people and destroy the ecology of
their country.
The poisons they have sprayed
to UU trees and destroy crops
sUy ln the soil. Much of thts
soil Is permanently destroyed.
In many places, after the plant.
cover dies, the bare ground be-
comes as hard as a rock through
a, process called ■latertzatlon.'
Generations must pass before
laterized   soil   can   again be
In other places, bamboo weeds
grow In after the original plants
are killed. So tough and stubborn
is the bamboo plant that lt Is almost Impossible to get rid of
once it has taken over the land.
American  planes   have also
acres of the mangroves which
line Vietnam's estuaries and
coastline bays and inlets where
RAISIN
FESTIVAL
Sh MAY 2-8
Tueaday. May 4. 1971    THE DAILY COLLEGIAN
k ■iguiae by iitenitioMl stideits thi. tddresses tfct n\m slideit c
CAMPUS	
INTERNATIONAL
(BI-MONTHLY)
Volume II  Number IX
Ping pong diplomacy:  a bait of Communist China?
By Pete Bookaman
Peking's invitation of the
American   Uble tennis .players
has caught the American public
by surprise.
To many Americans, the ping-
pong episode signifies a breakthrough InSlno-U.S. relations and
an Important step towards peace
and cooperation between the two
super Powers.
The American press hailed the
American Uble tennis players
as having 'accomplished something Amerlcandlplomatshaven't
been able to do in the past 22
years: they have pierced the
Bamboo Curtain."
The American athletes who
visited Red China are mostly
young and are, by no means, matured and sophisticated scholars,
well-versed in history or International relations. They were
overwhelmed by Communist cordiality and flattered by the conversation wllh premier ChouEn-
lal. What they saw and the people
they talked to in China were care-
fuUy screened and controlled by
the Communists - a fact that was
not apparent to the young American athletes. Peking had anticipated that these American players would return to their home
country and give a favorable impression of Communist China
through the ultra-liberal American mass-media. In the press
coverage, the American mass-
media has painted a more rosy
picture of Red China than tt reaUy
deserves.
WELL PLANNED
The Communist InvlUtlon waa
periallstlc zeal and Is still aup- reaching a trad* at __
porting th* lnsurgenU throughout Red Chin*. It U al*o conceivable
the world. that an eventual U.S. troop pun-
Let me briefly outline some out would Jeopardize Japanese
aspects of neo-lroperlalUro un- interest ln Asia and would fore*
dertaken by Red China under the japan to assume a military and
cloak of the 'War of National poUUcal role ln Asia, even re-
Liberation.'
JEOPARDY
Since 1949, Peking has put the
security of Asia to jeopardy by
IU overt agression ln Korea and
by attempting lo Uke over aU
of Vietnam at gun-point by using 1U puppet regime at Hanoi.
Since 19S3, Peking has massed
its troops (n Northern Laos,
and constructed a major thoroughfare leading from Yunnan to
the Mekong River. ThU road has
facilitated   Communist  lnflltra-
clear Issue ha* conaUnUy com*
up In Japan's National Assembly).
Australia has expressed fear
well pi
:e.Itse
that the Red Chinese table te
team was sent to Japan not so
much for the sake of sport but
as a convenient Instrument of
Peking. Prior to departure, the
team was briefed byChouEn-lal,
who Instructed the players on How
they were expected to behave,
which teams they were aUowed to
play with, and whom they ought to
Invite to the mainland.
The Communist motive Is not
apparent to many Americans In
this country. Many wishful thinkers view such outward overtures
by Red China with unreserved
optimism. But the Communist
sudden friendliness is not that
clear and simple. We are dealing,
not with a simple exchange of
goodwill, but with a weU-planned
Communist strategy which Is totally beyond the understanding of
a few pseudo-American diplomats who were Invited to Red
China.
FRIENDLY GESTURES
Peking hoped that by making
friendly gestures, lt could influence the world opinion and force
President Nlxon to reciprocate.
The Communist tactic worked
only too weU when President Nixon decided to expedite visas to
Red Chinese newsmen to visit the
U.S. and to relax travel and non-
strategic trade regulations with
Peking. The vlstt of Red Chinese
newsmen to the U.S. would provide an excellent opportunity for
Red China to mount an effective
propaganda against the U.S.
Let us now examine what Peking could gain from the ping-
pong' diplomacy. First of aU,
Peking :s Interested to securing
International recognition. After
the utter Ulluree of the Great
On the lighter side of things -
diplomacy could be . ..
Leap Forward and Mao's Cultural
Revolution which resulted ln major economic setbacks, Pektogls
now willing to try a more subtle
approach. Its new strategy now Is
to obUln a permanent seat In the
U.N. Security Council by winning
the support of the U.S.and other
key countries. If Peking Is successful. Nationalist China would
be dlsloged from, the U.N. as
Red China's admission Is conditional to Taiwan's expulsion.
Lastly, Peking hopes that the
spUt among the Americans, the
disillusionment of the U.S. foreign poUcy, and the consUnt
prodding of the Communist sympathizers in this country to flirt
with B
in all a:
Having obtained
seat to the Security Council, Red
China could sabotage any program not consonant with the fundamental Communist goal. Furthermore, the U.N. would conveniently serve as a front to
conduct Insurgency ln the U.S.
and other parts of the world,
not to mention the fact that Red
China would be to a good position
to Intimidate the overseas Chinese who express antl-Comrou-
. Secondly, Peking hopes that
Slno-U.S. detente would encourage the Soviet Union to adopt a
more flexible stance towards the
Slno-Sovlet frontier disputes.
Thirdly, Mao's diplomacy Is
designed to drive a wedge between the U.S. and the Soviet
Union. Peking reasons that the
U.S.-Soviet arms control talks
(Salt Talks) could be thwarted If
the Kremlin believes that the U.S.
is moving towards an eventual
alliance wllh Red China at the
expense of the Soviet Union.
ILLUSION
Fourthly, the ping-pong diplomacy is designed to create an Illusion among the American people, of* Mao's good Intentions.
Peking wanU to promote division
among the Americans by stimulating the activities of the antiwar elemenU. The current spUt
ln Nixon's Cabinet only s*rv*sto
vwrify th* success of Mao's
reduction of the American commitments to Asia. The U.S. Is the^
only major power who has the
capability to deny Red China's
expansion tn Asia.
Having now explored the benefits derived by Red China, let us
examine what Is to be gained by
the U.S. It Is my beUef that there
Is Uttle to be gained and so
much to lose from dealing with
Communist China. The wiUtog-
ness to flirt with the Communist
would expose the naivete of the
Americans. Despite an exchange
of friendly gestures, the real
problems and differences between both nations still remain.
Behind Its friendly facade, Red
China ha* not ' -..-.-
Asia. Moreover, Peking has supported and financed various insurgent groups ln Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Laos, Cambodia, and the Philippines.
They even Invaded India after
receiving the latter's recognition. It brutally suppressed the
Tibetans and liquidated the minority groups in China. Against
this sordid background, can a
powerful nation like the U.S. allow itself to be taken to by the
Communist tactic? There are
many apologists ln thts country
who are willing to defend the sincerity of Communist China. For
their benefit, I would Uke to cite
another example of Communist
hypocrisy.
Two days after Nixon had decided to ease the trade and travel
restrictions with Red China, the ^^^^^^^^^^^^
Peoples' Dally, the official paper and air rorce facilities.
of Red China, severely attacked m reference to **- '
the U.S. It devoted an entlrepage
which called for the struggle of
•our black American brother*
against 'the reactionary White
Red China might cause the ex-
puUlon of Taiwan froro th* UJJ.
Similarly,   tha   Chang*   ln U.S.
policy  has  caused a certain
amount of skepticism to South
Korea, Thailand, South Vietnam,
and the Philippines. The leaders
of these countries are concerned
about the Maolst-lnsptred lnsurgenU ln their countries. Lastly,
the American flirtation of Red
China is viewed by Kremlin as
an etfort^y Washington to conspire against Soviet Russia.
BENEFICIAL
There Is a widespread belief
that  trade   reUtions  with Red
China Is beneficial to both Red
Chtna and the U.S. Il U true that
Red China would benefit from the
buying of the U.S. goods. Last
summer, the U.S. authorized
selling 80 trucks to Red China.
This rash move apparently es-
tabllshed a dangerous precedent
whereby more heavy machinery
can be dumped ln Red China. Currently, the SUte and Commerce
DepartmenU are Uvoring selling
30 big earth movers toRedChina
without  realizing that such vehicles could be used for constructing  mlUUry tastellattons
leadership of the American Gov-
'sk.eptic.siii
The American rapproacbement
with Red China Is not without
skepticism among the U.S. allies. The rapproacbement under-
mlnes the American support of
Nationalist China and shakes the
latter's confidence In America's
sincerity to protect Taiwan.
Japan begins to.experience
anxiety about the posslbiuty that
tb* U.S. might brprn** Japan to
       lt U about
time the Americans wake up from
the world of fantasy to Uee the
real problems at hand.
ping-pong diplomacy has been
cleverly used by Mao for purely
poUUcal purposes. Thus, by going along with Peking, I*
scheme which U directed against
the U.S. The Communlsto are at
war with-the U.S. whether the
totter Ukes lt or not and the
irican people must realistic
ally c<
it this
rthe Amor!cans fully
understand tha Intentions and tha
method*   of  Communist China,