WORLD ~ China honours service of second Canadian MD The People’s Republic of China has honored the work and sacrifice of another Canadian medical doctor, Dr. Tillson Lever Harrison, who died in China in 1947 while accompanying medical supplies to the Chinese Fourth Route Army during the civil war. Inaceremony Jan.4 at Shanghai’s International Peace Hospital for the Protection of Mother and Child, a monument was unveiled to Dr.Harrison, just three days before the 100th anniversary of his birth in Tillsonberg, Ontario on January 7, 1888. In 1946, Dr. Harrison volunteered to escort 50 tons of badly-needed ’ medical and surgical supplies by train from Beijing to the north China for the people and soldiers in the liberated areas during the civil war against the Chiang Kai-shek regime. At the time, 98 per cent of international relief aid was being given to Chiang’s forces, ‘only two per cent to the liberation forces. Dr. Harrison’s journey was beset by obstacles put in the way by Kuom- intang agents at every turn. In the bittercold, his train was left on sidings without heat, food or water for days and thieves plundered the supplies. His train was split in two parts by scheming station-masters who sent ‘one part steaming away. ' The ordeal continued for weeks. Dr. Harrison's feet began blackening from frostbite, his strength sapped from hunger and cold.Supplies were finally transferred to truck convoys, then to ox carts to evade enemy bomb- ers. On January 9,1947, Dr. Harrison arrived in exhaustion to the remote village of Chang Chui, Shangtung Province with the supplies. He died early next morning. A 1958 article about the Interna- tional Peace Hospital published in China said: ‘‘The word ‘international’ was-no accident. It represented all the support rendered by friends of the Chi- nese people abroad. Men and women from many lands came personally to lend a hand. “*Three such volunteers -- Dr. Nor- man Bethune of Canada in 1939, Dr. Dwarkanath Kotnis of India in 1942 and Dr. Tillson L. Harrison, also of Can- ada, in 1947 -- died in this service.’’ GDR calls for new steps to detente By RITA HOPPE Berlin Correspondent BERLIN -- In a significant initiative to build on the recent Soviet- American agreement to eliminate all medium and shorter-range nuclear weapons, GDR leader Erich Honecker in his New Year’s address called for the removal of all nuclear weapons from the two German states. Pointing out that Warsaw Pact member countries unanimously regard the INF treaty as an historic milestone toward a nuclear-weapons-free world, he called for new moves to broaden the disarmament process. All peace initiatives, emanating from the two Germanies, located in The Democratic Organisation of Iranian Women charged last week that the Khomeini regimehas begun using women and children as cannon-fodder in its war with While children have been used for some time by the Revolution- ary Guards to clear minefields, half that of men. Guns instead of gavels says the organization, theregime’s use of women in battle was an- nounced by Speaker of Parliament Rafsanjani as ‘‘a new opportunity for the ladies.”’ This ata time, says Iraq. the DOIW, when women are not allowed to become judges, and their testimony is considered to be 2000”’. the heart of Europe where the two social systems meet, where NATO and the Warsaw Pact face each other, would signify a constructive move toward, as Honecker put it, ‘our goal of a nuclear-weapons-free year A few days following the GDR leader’s New Year's message, came the publication in full of a'letter which had been sent on Dec.16 by Honecker to West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl. It contained the Warsaw Pact’s offer to renounce the modernization of their short-range nuclear weapons if NATO agrees in turn to refrain from upgrading their nuclear weapons with a maximum range of 500 kilometers. Ata time when NATO is embarking on a modernization program of its short-range nuclear arsenal, the bulk of which is concentrated in West Germany, this offer includes the expressed aim of providing a concrete, confidence-building measure paving the road to further disarmament. The letter went on to address the issue of joint security through the reduction of conventional armed forces and the need to ban chemical weapons in the two countries. The West German government has publicly welcomed the results of the Washington summit, and in the past weeks has frequently spoken of the need to continue the disarmament process begun by the INF treaty. A positive and constructive reply to Honecker’s letter would afford the opportunity to put words into action. Pravda: capability? Under the treaty signed in Washington, the Soviet Union is to eliminate many more missiles and warheads than the U.S. Will this damage the USSR’s defence Ce MOSCOW -- Whatare the prospects for arms control and regional issues in the wake of the INF treaty that has just been signed? The Soviet newspaper Pravda puta series of questions to Marshal Sergei Akhromeyev, first Deputy Minister of Defence and Chief-of-Staff of the Soviet Armed Forces, who participated in the summit meeting in December. He was the first high-ranking Soviet military officer ever to visit the Pentagom Besides making arithmetical calculations of the correlation of forces in each weapons cate- gory, itis essential for someone to make the first step to ensure the beginning of a real disarma- ment process. The USSR has done this, and it is, to the Akhromeyev: Our military capability consists not only of intermediate and shorter- range missiles and their warheads. We also have other military means to ensure reliable defence. Soviet Union’s great credit, an immense politi- cal and moral step forward. We are dismantling more than double the number of missiles and warheads the United States is. But the U.S. is also eliminating its intermediate-range missiles in Europe. Those missiles can hit targets inside the Soviet Union within eight to 10 minutes. They were to be used for waging a ‘‘limited’’ nuclear - war in Europe. The treaty removes this very real threat to the European part of the USSR. It is impossible to try to achieve unilateral concessions in negotiations with the United States. Successful talks are possible only on a mutual basis, that is, when the concessions are, mutual. This was the case during the prepara- tion of the INF treaty. At the same time, our country’s defence capabilities have not been damaged. : Pravda: What nuclear weapons will remain, and what kind of military-strategic situation could arise in Europe once the in- termediate and shorter-range missiles are eliminated? Akhromeyev: The European armies of both the Warsaw Treaty and NATO will still retain tactical nuclear weapons -- strike air- craft, short range missiles and nuclear artillery. Germany. Peace or tension? American soldiers unpacking a Pershing Il (above) while massive peace demonstrations take place in West Steps towards disarmament Most are dual-purpose weapons, that is, they can be used with either conventional or nuclear ammunition, In keeping with the Warsaw Treaty’s pro- gram for reducing armed forces and nuclear and conventional weapons in Europe from the Atlantic to the Urals, the allied socialist coun- tries suggest that these dual-purpose weapons be reduced alongside conventional weapons. This issue is now being discussed in Vienna. One might suggest that the British and French nuclear forces still have to be accounted for. True, but we hope that these two countries will join the process of nuclear arms reduction after the projected 50 percent cut -- a really sizeable cut -- in strategic offensive weapons by both the USSR and the United States. Pravda: The INF treaty covers a rela- tively small portion of the two countries’ nuclear strength. But there are voices in NATO already speaking about compensat- ing for the systems being eliminated. Could you elaborate? Akhromeyev: Yes, the NATO countries are making plans for rearmament, or what they call ‘‘compensation’’ for the so-called nuclear missile gap some say is emerging in Europe, as a response to the elimination of medium and shorter-range missiles. These plans specifically provide for addi- tional deployment of nuclear-capable aircraft and ships carrying missiles in the seas off Eu- rope. They also envisage a conventional arms buildup. These plans contradict the spirit of the INF treaty. The danger here is perfectly clear. If not stopped, the result could be a new spiral of the arms race, and a limit to the effectiveness of the INF treaty. This must not be permitted. It can also undermine trust in our negotiat- ing partners, the U.S. and the NATO bloc as a whole. Pravda: When in Washington last December, you headed a working group of PACIFIC TRIBUNE, JANUARY 20, 1988 e 9