This is the second article b

Tribune assistant editor Tour
Morris on his visit to Southeast
Asia last month where he visited
ietnam, Kampuchea and
20s. The first report on Kam-

buchea appeared in the Dec. 17,
1979 Tribune.

were compared to U.S. Gen-
’ LeMay’s threat in the 1960s

bomb Vietnam into the Stone
“ee . As a matter of fact, it was
nted out to us that the U.S.
Orce during its bombings of
northern regions in 1972 left a
Palong this border untouched.
even years later the Chinese
Y completed the destruction

*; the road to Lang Son from
01 Cuts through the flatlands
he delta. Both sides are hug-
by cultivated fields as far as
eye can see. Thousands of lit-
dikes and ramparts direct
ter flow to the rice paddies and
effect is that of organized
Nor and.textures.
“Bicycles (thousands of them!)
am along the highway in both
Tections giving the impression
schools of fish. swimming
Actly the same pattern. Water
itfalo, carts and pedestrians
plete the picture of motion.
e flatlands soon give way to
\untains and the roadway be-
es a ribbon as it clings to the
es, climbs and decends. Here
kre is thick jungle, rocky
(ches and rushing streams. It is
& region of legends and mighty
tles. ;
€ six of us in the mini-bus
st the temptation to use up our
on the spectacular country-
e deciding to save it for Lang
| ta city.
‘We arrived there in early after-
fn. Immediately the scene of
Noble and twisted wreckage met
> The bus lurched over a tem-
ary Swingbridge spanning the
‘4 Cung river which divides the
VV. The original bridge lay be-
Ath it, blown up by Chinese
Npers as they retreated.
‘Sefore our tour, we met with
tng Son’s Party secretary who
icomed us to ‘‘this front-line
y of Vietnam’. He outlined the
\rs-long battle of nerves carried
| by China which included fron-
PrOvocations of several kinds:

rolution”’, Peking paid special
, ‘ntion to the Hua people in
Xtnam (persons of Chinese ori-
\) who live along the border. It
XNouraged them to support the

<d as the core for this cam-

Dn.

Because of hundreds of
S of co-habiting and friend-
_ Aps built, China moved its bor-
| § inhabitants out and replaced
. XM With others new to the area.
' \ China began laying claim to
tons of Vietnam, for example
Mons of railway built during
‘U.S. war, with Chinese aid,
¥ areas of forest seeded from
air by Chinese aircraft during
aid program.

© During China’s ‘‘cultural _

s Of China and many Hua were —

e Acampaign to encourage the |

Hua people to leave Vietnam for
China was begun. They were told
of an ‘‘attack’’-on China by the
USSR and were asked to return
‘*home’’; they were warned of a
China-Vietnam war and were ad-
vised, contrary to Vietnamese
law, that simple permission from
China’s embassy in Hanoi was all

they needed to leave.

The Chinese campaign resulted
in some 10,000 Hua people mas-
sing along the border. It was then
China closed its frontier causing
chaos in the area and creating a
situation in which to charge Viet-
nam with “‘persecution”’ of its na-
tional minorities.

At this point armed provoca-
tions were stepped up by Chinese
border troops which culminated
in the February 17 full-scale in-
vasion. ‘‘It was a ‘logical’ out-
come of Chinese policy,’ our
host told us.

ec ak. ot

Overall, the Chinese army laid
waste to 10,000 square kilometres
of Vietnam over the six border
provinces..

In Lang Son province the point
of furthest advance was the capi-
tal city of Lang Son which, ac-
cording to captured Chinese
documents, was scheduled to be
occupied on the second day of the
invasion. In fact, due to fierce re-
sistance, the city was not seized
until March 3, — 14 days later.

The attack was met by border
troops and militia, the regular
army being held in reserve. The
two-week battle cost China
60,000 dead-and wounded.
‘‘When I was here some days
after the retreat, my Vietnamese
friends said, ‘‘the river was clog-
ged with Chinese dead.”’

This slow advance permitted
time for mass evacuation of civi-
lians — some 100,000 persons in
Lang Son province —.who were

moved south to safety. Less than —

one-third of the province's towns
and villages were occupied, but

the brutality visited on the people

and the countryside surpassed alf
expectations.

Civilians were killed in-
discriminately wherever they
were found. Individually, in
families or in larger groups, the
terror tactics were applied. ;

Chinese occupation policy,
too, was clearly designed to crip-
ple Vietnam economically. Spe-
cial attention was paid to smash-
ing public buildings, factories,
hospitals, bridges, rail lines and
Stations, roads, schools, hydro
installations, farms, churches and
historical sites. Fields were set
afire and farm animals
slaughtered; equipment of all
kinds was carried: away.

* %* *

Our group started its tour into
the city. By car and by foot we

moved through the streets now .

cleared for passage. The devasta-
tion was everywhere although by
now, nine months later, rubble is
heaped in piles and some recon-
struction has begun.

We climbed up the high, pre-
carious mountain of brick and

NAM STRATEGY

cement that was once Lang Son’s

railway station. We peered along |

track now only strands of twisted
steel.

The city’s central market

square lies in shambles, every last_

building either destroyed or dam-
aged. A mile away we are clam-
bering over a large expanse of
mortar and stone that resembles
the face of the moon — this was a
hotel complex.

Further away is a wrecked hos-

pital with broken beds and. medi- °

cal equipment poking up from the
debris. We find it hard to compre-
hend that all this waste and de-
struction came about not through
battle but was a planned opera-
tion to wipe a city off the map.

What we were seeing in Lang
Son, we recalled, also took place
in four other obliterated provin-
cial cities. Eighty-one industrial
complexes were also lost, a seri-
ous blow against a country striv-
ing to re-build after decades of
war.

Later I stopped in the middle of
the road to aim my camera at a
large structure with its face blown
away. “‘You are standing next to
the exact spot where Tacano was
shot. He was photographing that
same building,’’ my Vietnamese
friend said over my shoulder.
“The house was once Party
headquarters. The sniper fired
from the building to your
qeNt. co

Isao Tacano was in Lang Sona
few days after the ‘‘official’’
Chinese withdrawal. He was a
32-year old photo-journalist for
the Japanese Communist daily

’ Akahata and died March 7 on that

narrow roadway. As I looked
down I saw the simple floral tri-
bute to him.

* * *

China’s attack on Vietnam last
year, taken by itself seems like an
act of mindless stupidity. But if
viewed together with other ac-
tions and policies, Peking’s role in
Kampuchea, its aggression
against Vietnam and countless
other political and military adven-
tures begin to assume a form and
pattern. .

A map. published in Peking in
1954 ina book ‘‘Sketch of Modern
Chinese History”’ (reproduced on
these pages) shows regions
marked which China considers
part of its territory ‘‘seized’’~by
foreign countries.

It includes several areas of
Soviet Central Asia, all of Assam,
Bhutan, Burma, Thailand, Laos,
Kampuchea, Vietnam, Nepal,
part of Kashmir, portions of the
Bay of Bengal and three sections
of the Sea of Japan from the
Philippines to north of Japan.

China’s anti-Vietnam policy
should be viewed in the context of
expansion on a wide scale, chal-
lenging established frontiers in
every direction and making
political-economic-military pacts
with imperialism with a view to
weakening the socialist camp.
And, as we were constantly told
by our Vietnamese hosts, this pol-
icy is being continued, against
which the maximum. solidarity

‘and vigilance is needed.

<<. 2

0 iy
3 e
: '
| fe
o |
a]
3 2 ae _ ‘
4 ; gg —— j
The face of Lang Son’s central market (photo top) and the remains of a i
bridge blown up by Chinese sappers. %
=

F

sted beds poke up from smashed

Desolation everywhere. Below: twi
hospital.

PE PEE RY

=~

=

mee EQS. OCA ae”

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—JANUARY 18, 1980—Page 5