40% of China’s
budget is spent
on the military

Experts on China are beginning
to ponder over the question: what
do the Chinese people actually
think about developments at
home and abroad? How do they
react to these developments,
especially in light of the recent
11th Congress of the Communist
Party of China?

Reports from different’ pro-
vinces show that, despite support
the ‘‘gang of four”’ is still receiv-
ing from certain circles, the popu-
lation generally has welcomed the
removal of this group from the
leadership. Most people rightly
regard it as part of the forces
which exerted an extremely nega-
tive influence on the life of the
country.

That Ch’iang, Wang, Chang
and Yao have been removed is
good, but did this poisonous weed
have only four roots? and is there
only one poisonous plant? ... a
genuine man of wisdom searches
out all poisonous plants and des-
troys them. ..’’ —many Chinese
are now saying. ‘‘The most im-
portant thing is that herons should

walk in the rich fields and the
earth should not tremor; that of-
ficials should know what they
must do today and tomorrow; that
pupils’ voices from school build-

ings should be heard and that or-,

dinary men can peacefully work,
well-fed and clothed,’’ wrote the
authors of a large wall poster in
Canton which had wide repercus-
sions throughout China.

Clearly having the last Con-
gress of the CPC in mind, the
poster notes: ‘‘Many thousands
of words have been said in Pek-
ing, and many thousands of
characters have been written, but
will the Chinese begin to live bet-
terz=

The positive reaction of broad
sections of the Chinese people to
the removal of the four has not
blunted their resentment against
the overall state of affairs in the
country or alleviated their deep
doubts about the development of
events in the future.

Indeed, the documents of the
11th Congress of the CPC contain
no clear-cut program of social and

New film to
honor Victor Jara

‘*El Cantor’’, (the Singer) a film |

honoring the memory of Chilean
folk singer Victor Jara murdered
by the junta is currently being
shot by DEFA, the national film
studio of the German Democratic
Republic. American singer Dean
Reed is the film’s author and di-
rector and also acts the main part.
Dean Reed lives in the GDR.

The film describes the last three ~
weeks in the life of Victor Jara,
‘*his tireless work for the Popular
Unity Government, the love for
his wife and children, his joy in
living and his death at the hand of
the fascists’’, Dean Reed said in
an interview.

The script is based on inter-

views with Victor Jara’s widow,
Joan Turner-Jara, and on talks
with close associates of Jara now
living in Bulgaria; the Soviet
Union and Cuba, some of whom
were detained together with Vic-
tor Jara in Santiago stadium when
it was turned into a concentration
camp.

Reed who knew Victor Jara
personally and several times ap-
peared with him, intends to make
a film branding the inhumanity of
imperialism and fascism. For the
shooting he had at his disposal a
team of excellent actors from the
GDR and Bulgaria. It will be
screened at the World Youth Fes-
tival in Havana next summer.

Victor and Joan Jara with their daughters Manuela and Amanda

shortly before his murder.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—SEPTEMBER 16, 1977—Page 6

The 11th Congress continued the thesis that “war is inevitable” and with it the sicily eral Sad of military
forces. Photo below: an earlier street scene during the cultural revolution.

economic development, except a
general declaration that “‘toward
the end of this century China must
become an economically mighty
state.”’

Even though Peking pro-
paganda has described the docu-
ments adopted by the Congress as
**epoch-making’’ and as ‘‘exert-
ing an enormous influence on the
destiny of each person in China,”
they again contain no concrete
indicators of economic growth or
figures which would confirm the
new leadership is seriously plan-
ning, even to some extent, to raise
living standards.

Phrases at the Congress that
the people of China must live ina
‘frontline situation’’, ‘“‘not fear
difficulties, not demand better
working conditions and work as
much time as may be needed, ig-
noring remuneration’’ has shown
that the policy of artificially keep-
ing down even the minimum
growth of the living standards
while intensifying SU QUEL
continues.

The new leadership of China,
as is clear from the documents of
the Congress, has no intention of
discarding the slogans which
were advanced when Mao was
still alive and which were then
supported by the gang of four —
‘tighten the bekt’’, eat less, work
more.”

In addition, the 11th Congress
confirmed the avowed line of con-
tinuing the accelerated militariza-
tion of the country, under which
the development of the economy
is geared to the chief objective of
building up the military potential.
Today China is spending over
40% of its national budget for
military purposes.

To justify these expenditures
the thesis is repeated that ‘‘fac-
tors of war have been growing in
the world”’ and ‘‘sooner or later, a
new world war is inevitable.”’
The lie that ‘‘the main threat to
the country emanates from the
north — from the Soviet Union,”’
is still used to intimidate the popu-
lation. It is stated that the Com-
munist Party of China will wage a
struggle against the Soviet Union
over ‘‘a prolonged historical
period’.

Materials indicate the Chinese
leadership’s further teaming up
with the right wing of inter-
national imperialism particularly
in stronger contacts with the reac-
tionary forces, including fascist
groups acting abroad. In-a bid to
attain their strategic purposes,

Peking is doing its utmost to
weaken those whom it believes to
be its two principal antagonists,
the Soviet Union and the United
States, by setting them one
against the other.

Mao stated in his day that “the
elimination of imperialism should
be started with the United
States’’. He wanted Moscow to
deliver a nuclear blow at
Washington and promised that, if
there was retaliation, Peking
would compensate for the losses
of manpower. China will send
along millions of people, 40 or 50
million,’’ he said.

It goes without saying that his
attempts to provoke the Kremlin

and plunge the world into a nuc- ,

lear holocaust, which would en-
gulf millions of people and leave
China the biggest factor in the
international arena, fell through.
The Soviet Union continues to
follow its foreign policy of peace
and cooperation with all nations.

It was this firrg Soviet stance
that forced Mao to change his tac-
tics. He then tried to ‘‘turn the
spearhead to the north’’ and come
to terms ‘with the USA on the

basis of naked anti-Sovietism, at
the same time dreaming of push-
ing the latter to confrontation with |
the Soviet Union and even to an |
armed conflict with it.

China’s leaders are actively |
preparing for such a turn of
events. They decided to further |

step up the militarization of the |
‘country and) believe that China |

will build a strong enough army to |
establish control ‘‘first over
neighboring Asian countries and
then over other states.’’ The slo- |
gan of developing ‘‘not only a |
powerful ground army, but also a
powerful air force and navy” |
shows that the Chinese general
staff plans to turn the army, now
capable of conducting defensive
operations, into a force which
could take the offensive on land
and on the high seas.

Peking has started-a large-scale
and rather unseemly game. The
Chinese leaders would like to
outwit all and sundry, including
their own people. But in prac-
tice, the interests of the Chi-
nese people and the cause of peace
and the security of nations willin- |
evitably triumph. — (APN). |