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Afghan students at demonstration in support of the revolution.

Destabilization failure angers
U.S., retaliates against USSR

With the help of the United
States and China in particular,
armed attacks by Afghan - re-
actionary forces are continuing,
as is the anti-Afghan campaign
launched by Washington and
joined by other capitalist states
including Canada.

Stung by the defeat of its policy
of destabilization, Washington
has undertaken reprisal actions
aimed both at Afghanistan and the
Soviet Union. In a speech last
week, President Carter an-
nounced a series of anti-Soviet
moves which include a grain em-

~bargo, restrictions on fishing

rights and civil aircraft flights,
freezing diplomatic, operations,
expulsion of some Soviet dip-
lomatic personnel and an all-out

An especially ominous note is
being struck by the visit of U.S.
Defence Secretary Brown to Pek-
ing where the full extent of
U.S.-China collaboration is seen.

The two powers have agreed to
step up their military cooperation
with high level exchanges of mili-
tary leaders. The United States
has agreed to provide China with
sophisticated technical equip-
ment. Brown rattled the sabres in
Peking referring to U.S.-Chinese
mutual interests in the region

* while Chinese vice-premier Deng

Xiaoping urged the establishment
of a world wide anti-Soviet pact.

Carter also: announced a
dramatic step-up in arms sales to
neighboring Pakistan and the use
of new military bases in Oman,
Somalia and Kenya by U.S.
forces. These moves are seenas a
desperate effort to improve the
United States position in the area
not only in face of the defeat of its
policies in Afghanistan but also as
an answer tothe situation in Iran.
The about-fact in Washington’s
attitude toward Pakistan where a
military regime holds power has
already met with angry comments
by India where Indira Ghandi was
swept into power last week.

These latest military moves by
the U.S., including the shifting of
a huge fleet to the Indian Ocean
and Persian Gulf are a part of its
global strategy of ringing the

USSR with bases, charged the

Communist Party of the United
States in a press statement:

“It is not the Soviet Union but
the USA which has established its
military bases, missiles and
armed forces in other countries
on a global scale. The U.S. main-
tains 429 permanent military
bases abroad, and 3,000 supple-
mentary installations in 30 coun-
tries. Since the end of World War
Two the USA has undertaken 215
military actions involving the use
or threat of force against other
countries ...””

The French Communist Party .

noted that ‘‘the Afghan people in

recent years have been engaged
on a progressive path’’ and that
“U.S. imperialism has been di-
rectly or indirectly trying to op-
pose this popular movement with
the aim of reconquering lost
ground.”

The FCP reaffirmed its
‘*staunch attachment to the prin-
ciples of sovereignty and self-
determination of the peoples and
(takes) into account each coun-
try’s right to call upon its allies for
help to face external interference
in their affairs. It is considering
these principles that we have
taken notice of the explanations
of the Soviet Government which
indicate it responded to an appeal
which was launched — within the
norms of the UN Charter and the
USSR-Afghan Treaty — in order
to help the Afghan government
against a rebellion supported by
forces outside the country ...”’

Speaking to the 24th Conven-
tion of the Communist Party of
Canada last week, CPC general
secretary William Kashtan spoke
of imperialism’s desperate efforts
to find a way out of its:deep-going
economic crisis ‘‘even if it means
accelerating the arms race and
starting a war, if they can find a
place to start a war. There is,”
Kashtan said, ‘‘an increased
aggressiveness by imperialism. . .
a new world-wide offensive, and
Afghanistan is part of this pro-
cess, not an accident ...”’

i.

iranians and Armenians demonstrate in Tehran Jan. 4 against the presence of NATO missiles based in Turkey |

along Iran's north-western border.
PACIFIC TRIBUNE—JANUARY 18, 1980—Page 4

By TOM MORRIS

LANG SON, Vietnam ~ It
takes over four hours to drive
from Hanoi north to the city of
Lang Son which lies 19 kilometres
from the Chinese border. A mili-
tary aircraft can make the flight in
only seven minutes from air bases
in China to Vietnam’s capital.

Geography and map distance
here are at the same time histori-
cally important and misleading.
Several factors must be con-
sidered: Lang Son lies directly on
the traditional invasion route
from’ China to Vietnam. Four
times in the past 1,000 years in-
vading troops swept southward
against Vietnam through here.
They came down mountain pas-
sesin the 11th, 13th; 15thand 18th
centuries — and again in Feb-
ruary, 1979.

And before that, following al-
most 10 centuries of Chinese
occupation, Vietnam achieved its
liberation in 938 in what General
Giap termed ‘‘the first Dien Bien
Phu”’ in the long struggle of the
Vietnamese people for independ-
ence. This military victory at.
Bach Dang also took place on the
road between Lang Son and
Hanoi. —

The misleading (for foreigners)
aspect of map distances here lies

CHINA'S V

stroying socialist Vietnam whit

in the military traditions of
Vietnamese people and -
rain in this part of the cout!

At 5.30 a.m. on Feb
1979, Chinese troops 2!
along the entire 1,460 kilom
frontier. They hit simultan
at the six border provinces
ploying hundreds of tanks,
mored personnel carriers —
thousands of artillery pieces: —

Some 600,000 troops W®%
used, one-third of them 2&8
Lang Son province which 14
250 kilometre border with Chl
The massive force, our Viett@®
ese friends told us, indicated
China had much more 10
than its public comment 2°
“teaching Vietnam a lesson «

China’s aim was to carry 04
full-scale invasion and occUP
tion. It planned to reach the!
River delta on which Hanol'
situated. This attack was palt®
Peking’s overall strategy 3
weakening and eventually ©

stands as bulwark against its
to expand southward. i’

The ferocity and brutality
the attack and subseque@
occupation of Vietnamese tem

we math a4
i Fi)

5049 8a
prem itncns
— wey aries

Yeuiuroe

,

West wind.”

ke

;
This map was published in Peking in 1954 showing China’s claim
to extensive territories. The dotted line marks China’s “frontiers” _
as viewed by them incorporating 19 areas and extending from the :
Philippines in the south to a large section of the Soviet Far East —
and Central Asia as well as all of the Indochina peninsula and —
thousands of miles of oceans. the Mongolian People’s Republic —
finds itself within the solid line which, according to this map, marks _
China’s present borders. Chinese domestic and foreign policy and
its newly-acquired treaties with the West should be viewed within
the framework of her expansionist aims. :
Aiming particularly at Southeast Asia, China’s approach was —
clearly stated by Chairman Mao Zedong in his comments to a —
meeting of the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee in _
August 1965: “We must by all means seize Southeast Asia in-
cluding South Vietnam, Thailand, Burma, Malaysia and Singapore. —
... This region is rich in raw materials and is worth the costs —
involved. After seizing Southeast Asia, we can increase our
strength in this region. And we’shall be strong enough to confront
the Soviet-East European bloc; the East wind,will prevail over the