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VANCOUVER **Once

in tens of thousands of Viet-
lamese Civilians are fleeing from

ir homes in the path of an in-
ler. Once again Vietnamese
es and homes are being put

the torch by an invading army.
€ again Vietnamese men,
men, children and the aged,
being killed and maimed by an
yader. Once again embattled
Vietnam cries out for aid from
lsople around the world!”
With these words begins an .ap-
by Canadian Aid for Vietnam
jvilians, the organization whose
pporters provided thousands of
lars worth of food and clo-
hing, as well as cash, during and
ter the U.S. war of aggression
wainst Vietnam.

«*The invasion of Vietnam by
he armed forces of China heaps
lew and additional burdens on a
ple who have already suffered

rves.
««Coming on top of the vast de-

ction caused by the U.S.

\<asters of recent months, which
troyed much of their food crop
bd caused widespread flooding,

ing hundreds of thousands

out of their homes, the Chinese
invasion is-an act of gross inhu-
manity,’’ CAVC charges.

‘*The Chinese invasion is ad-
ding to the terrible burdens and
sufferings of the Vietnamese
people.

“‘The Canadian Aid for Viet-
nam Civilians which, over the
years has rendered aid to the
people of Vietnam, is called upon
once again to urge Canadians to
give liberally to provide
humanitarian assistance to the
people of Vietnam.”’

The appeal records that
**thanks to the generous contribu-
tions from Canadians, CAVC re-
cently concluded its campaign to
send $50,000 for a hospital in Viet-
nam. Now more aid is needed to
meet the serious problems the

Vietnamese people face as a re-
sult of the Chinese invasion.”’

Contributions through CAVC
may be sent to P.O. Box 2543,
Vancouver, B.C., V6B 3W8.

Circulating in Vancouver at the
same time, is a telegram to
Prime Minister Trudeau, for
which people are asked to pay 50
cents to have their names added.
It reads:

““We the undersigned, alarmed
at the dire threat to world peace
and the suffering inflicted upon
the Vietnamese people as a result
of the invasion of Vietnam by
Chinese troops, urge you to bring
to bear every possible influence to
insist that China withdraw from
Vietnam immediately and that
you respond to Vietnam’s appeal
for grain and powdered milk.”

Peking miscalculated
in attacking Vietnam

Special to the Tribune
BERLIN — Peking has suf-
fered a resounding military and
political defeat in its large-scale
invasion of Vietnam. That was

a

Wilfred Burchett is a veteran journalist, living in Paris, who
has covered the situation in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia for
more than 30 years. He is a frequent contributor to the French
biweekly ‘‘Afrique-Asie”’ and has just returned from a month-
long visit to Vietnam. Here are some excerpts from
“‘Afrique-Asie’’, Jan. 22, 1979: :

* * *

First, with or without the Soviet Union, there would be a

~ Chinese- Vietnamese problem; and second, with or without Vie-

tnam, a resistance movement would have arisen in Cambodia to
overthrow the retrograde and oppressive Pol Pot regime.

In 1954 the Vietnamese revolutionaries were shocked to see a
map of China in a book for highschool students which included,
in all or in part, 17 countries described as “parts of Chinese
territory that were appropriated by the imperialists.”

Included in this map were all of Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia,
Thailand, Malaysia, Nepal and other countries, as well as vast
regions of India, Japan, and the USSR ...

In denouncing “Soviet expansionsim”’, China hopes to divert

“attention from its own expansionism. And the fact that the

Chinese menace led Vietnam to strengthen its ties with the USSR
does not change the problem at all.

Secondly: to claim that the overthrow of the Pol Pot regime is
the result of a ‘Soviet plot” is absurd. Whether this barbarous
regime was supported by China, Vietnam or the USSR, the
insurrection would have occurred all the same. The
Vietnamese-Cambodian disagreement did not originate simply
from the China-Soviet conflict.

But in supporting Pol Pot to the end, the present Chinese

“ leadership was faithful to its own logic: it supported Pinochet in

Chile, the Shah of Iran, Mobutu in Zaire, the FNLA (backed by
the CIA) in Angola — and today it has a more than concilliatory
attitude toward U.S. expansionism.

Let me point out that in Hanoi there has never been any
attempt to hide the fact that Vietnam supported the Cambodian

_ United Front for National Salvation and was ready to do a lot for

it. With or without Vietnamese support, a resistance movement
would have arisen in Cambodia which would have done every-
thing possible to overthrow the universally-condemned regime
of terror.

_/

ee TER ee oe eT oa ne yoo

the dominant reaction in both
East and West to the official
claims and unofficial hints from
Peking that it is withdrawing its
military forces from Vietnam.
According to leading commen-
tators here, Peking’s first miscal-

~ culation was its arrogant belief

that it would shock or scare the
Vietnamese people and their
worldwide supporters, especially
the socialist countries, into sub-
mission. The exact opposite oc-
curred. ‘

The same commentators also

point out that Peking’s aggression
found absolutely no support any-
where in the international com-
munist movement. It is true the
Rumanian leaders tried to push a
‘cease-fire’? formula of their
own. But they did not justify Pek-
ing’s aggression.
_ In international bourgeois and
imperialist circles there was open
jubilation over the aggression and
some concealed satisfaction over
Peking’s attempt to do what the
USA had not been able to do. But
even in official circles in many
Capitalist countries and in impor-
tant sections of the Western press
there was a realistic recognition
that Peking’s cold-blooded and
unprovoked assault on Vietnam
could suck the whole world into
very dangerous situations.

An example of this realistic
thinking was a commentary in the
West German right-wing news-
paper, the Munich Suddeutsche
Zeitung which declared that Pek-

ing’s ‘‘punishment expedition’’ —

was ‘‘not believable’ from the
beginning. As for ‘‘Peking’s new
Western friends’’, the paper con-
tinued, they are all suffering
considerable embarrassment.
‘The USA especially has been
placed in the position of seeming
to be an accomplice of an aggres-
sor. The same thing could happen
to European countries supplying
weapons to China.”’

FIGURES ON SOUTH AFRICA’S PRISON POPULATION
JOHANNESBURG — The daily prison population in South Africa
numbers over 100,000 it was revealed at a National Conference for
Social Change here recently. In most countries the prison population
averages 50 per 100,000. In South Africa the figure is 1,493 per 100,000
which makes it five times greater than that of Britain and the USA.

WORLD GROWTH TRENDS BY YEAR 2,000 CHARTED

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Census Bureau has estimated that by
the year 2000, about 80% of the world’s population will live in countries
which are currently poor and underdeveloped. At present about 73%
live in these countries. The bureau also said that this majority would be
substantially younger than Americans and other more affluent peoples.

North America, the Soviet Union, Europe, Japan, New Zealand and
Australia, considered the more developed areas, accounted for about
27% of the world’s population in 1975. The bureau estimates that that
number will drop to about 20% in the next 20 years.

SOUTH AFRICA LAUNCHES ATTACKS INTO ANGOLA

UNITED NATIONS — UN Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim has
deplored South Africa’s latest air and ground strikes into Angola
against bases of the Southwest African People’s Organization ‘‘which
comes at a time when efforts are being made to reach a peaceful
settlement of the Southwest Africa (Namibian) problem’’.

The attacks coincided with South Africa’s formal rejection of cease-
fire plans proposed by Waldheim as part of the world body’s program
for black-majority rule in Namibia. The raid was ordered 9 days before
the UN-supervised ceasefire was to begin as a prelude to indepen-
dence. 3

SHAH TO STAND TRIAL FOR CRIMES AGAINST THE PEOPLE
TEHRAN — The Iranian government has-announced that the de-
posed Shah and his family will be tried in absentia by an Iranian
revolutionary court for crimes against the people. The site of the trial
and written charges are yet to be made public. Iran also announced it
will continue efforts to freeze the billions of dollars in foreign banks
which the Shah has deposited, monies stolen from the country.

CHILE-CHINA COOPERATION CONTINUES TO GROW

SANTIAGO — The appearance of Chinese products in the largest
stores in the Chilean capital attests to the growth of Chilean-Chinese
economic cooperation. After speedy recognition of the fascist junta in
1973, China granted Chile over $200-million in credits. Since then the
two countries have agreed to exchange permanent military missions,
jointly explore the Antarctic and increase trade.

Last: year Chilean Foreign Minister Cubillos visited Peking and
described the talks as ‘‘extremely cordial and fruitful’ while his
Chinese counterpart attacked the USSR, Cuba and Vietnam and
praised the junta which ‘‘protects national independence and
sovereignty’.

This Is the turning point for anyone who calls himself a revolutionary,
for anyone who considers himself to be a progressive, for anyone who is
peace-loving. This is not a time for vacillation, for ambiguity. Throughout
this vast world this is a time for define who is who, because no revolutio-
nary can do anything but condemn In the most vigorous and categorical
fashion this criminal venture by the Chinese government.

— Fedel Castro,
Havana, February 21

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—MARCH 16, 1979—Page 7