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: | angry response to Peking’s murderous

Laos vows to maintain —
sovereignty, integrity

On March 7 the government of the Lao
People’s Democratic Republic issued

) this statement (slightly abridged) on Chi-

na’s threat to Laos. The statement was
issued before Chinese troops crossed the
China-Laos border penetrating two
kilometres into the country.
* * *

Laos and China are close neighbors.
The two peoples are bound by a long
tradition of solidarity, friendship and

) mutual assistance.

However, recently, especially after

) launching a large scale war of aggression
| against the Socialist Republic of Viet-

nam, China has moved many divisions of
its regular army to areas bordering with
Laos, Carried out military exercises, re-
peatedly smuggled into Laos groups of

+ commandos and spies to carry out pro-
paganda | aimed at sowing division among .

Lao nationalities, disturbing order and

| security of Laos and opposing the
: policies of the Government of the Lao

People’s Democratic Republic.
These acts of the Chinese rulers have

| sabotaged the traditional solidarity and

friendship between the peoples of Laos

and China, grossly interfered in the in-’
| ternal affairs of Laos and seriously

threatened the independence,

| sovereignty and territorial integrity of

Laos as well as peace and stability in this
region. At the same time, they have viol-

| ated fundamental norms in internal rela-

tions and run counter to the United Na-
gions Charter.
‘The Lao People’s Democratic Repub-

Saad parley, by ie ee
‘the leaders of the USA and NATO.
rs “The whole world has given quick and

nism. Now, dangerous and
cunning propaganda spread by Peking
j and Washington, and so far concurred.
inby Ottawa, ‘tries to lull the world into:

That concurresice by Ottawa has to!

‘The propaganda has been exposed _
facts. It is upto Canadians who care

‘and unconditional withdrawal of

cra eto
er ee ee ae a

lic is a fully independent and sovereign
country. Following their complete vic-
tory over aggressive imperialism, the
Lao people desire nothing but peace to
heal the wounds of war, reconstruct their
country and build a happy life. Laos, a
small country with a population of a little
more than three million, cannot be a
threat to China, a big country with a
population of 900 million. But the Lao
people have never submitted to anybody
and are determined not to let anyone vio-
late their independence, sovereignty and
territorial integrity, for which they have
struggled so long and so hard and with so
much sacrifice. The relations between
Laos and China have worsened with
each passing day. Responsibility entirely
rests with the Chinese side.

If the Chinese side really wishes to
safeguard and strengthen the solidarity
between the two peoples as it has often
stated it must match its words with prac-
tical deeds by putting an immediate end
to the concentration of its army forces
along the border, to all its threats against
the independence, sovereignty and ter-
ritorial integrity of Laos, to all acts of
intervention in the internal affairs of
Laos, to all its attempts to sow division
among Lao nationalities and to all acts of
sabotage against order and security in
Laos.

The Government of the Lao People’s
Democratic Republic and the Lao people
of all nationalities highly appreciate the
timely statements of the governments of
the Soviet Union, the Socialist Republic
of Vietnam and the People’s Republic of
Mongolia, firmly condemning the
Chinese side for threatening the inde-
pendence and sovereignty of Laos. The
Government of the Lao People’s Dem-
ocratic Republic sincerely thanks the
fraternal socialist countries and other
friendly countries throughout the world
for their solidarity with and strong sup-
port of the Lao people. .

The Government of the Lao People’s
Democratic Republic appeals to the frat-
ernal socialist countries, the non-aligned
countries and the peace-and-justice-

loving people in the world to continue —

their support and assistance to the Lao
people in their cause of national defence
and construction.

It appeals to the people and genuine
revolutionaries of China to take. timely
and effective actions to stop this com-
mon danger to the peoples of the two
countries in order to safeguard the long
tradition of solidarity and friendship be-
tween the Lao and Chinese peoples.

TEACHING viene A eee

“Punative action” or imperialist aggression? The results are the same. This woman and
her 12-year old son were killed during Chinese shelling of Lao Cai.

Vietnam: its courage
unsurpassed, undefeated

By Romesh Chandra
President of the World Peace Council
x * *

At this time, before my eyes are pic-
tures of the aggression committed by the
United States against Vietnam — just a
short while ago. These pictures which
were published widely in the press all
over the world, are constantly before me

Three Vietnamese children, their
bodies riddled with bullets, tied together,
floating down the Mekong River. A
mother with a little child, lying dead on
the ground, their bodies torn by the
bombs of the United States aggressors.
And one more: a girl, a Vietnamese girl,
running, her whole body burning, with
the flames of napalm.

When we saw the children floating
down the Mekong River, when we saw
the mother and the child and when we
saw this living torch of a Vietnamese
child — we said — each one of us and
hundreds of millions more: This shall
never happen again! The aggressors must
be defeated, and Vietnam must be re-
stored to a life of peace, independence,
unity and justice.

And thanks to the fact that the Viet-
namese people fought as no other people

Appeal to the Chinese people
fo end the war against Vietnam

In reflecting the deep disquiet of world
public opinion we, representatives of
peace forces from more than 100 coun-
tries and 30 international organizations,
meeting as a matter of emergency in Hel-
sinki March 6-8 1979, have agreed to ad-
dress the following appeal to the people
of China:

Chinese leaders have unleashed a
massive armed aggression against the
people of Vietnam — an independent,
sovereign country and a friend of the
Chinese people.

This aggression, which is costing
many lives and considerable material
losses, violates all norms of international
law and the Charter of the United Na-
tions. It is aimed not only against the
Vietnamese people, but also against the
very interests of the Chinese. people
themselves. It favors arms manufactur-
ers and enemies of world peace, détente
and disarmament. .

The signatories of this Appeal harbor
the best feelings of friendship for the

Chinese people. Deeply convinced that
‘you, the people of China, also cherish
peace, we call upon you to stay the hand
of the aggressor and demand that the
leadership of your country forthwith and
for all time halt the aggression and with-
draw Chinese troops to the last man from
Vietnamese soil and respect faithfully
the independence, sovereignty and ter-
ritorial integrity of Vietnam.

The great Chinese people, with whom
the peace forces have always shown
their solidarity in the. struggle for inde-
pendence and freedom, must have it
made quite clear to them that all the
peoples of the world condemn this unjust
war against the Socialist Republic of
Vietnam.

We strongly urge you, the people of
China, to do all you possibly can to bring
an end to this war, to safeguard peace in
Asia and throughout the world.

Mankind’s most precious possession
is peace!

could fight, and thanks also to the fact
that the Vietnamese people could always
count on the full and total support of all
the peace forces, in the first place of the
Soviet Union and of other socialist coun-
tries, of the nonaligned countries, of the
anti-imperialist forces of the world and of
the vast mass of people who cherish
peace, including and above all the people
of the United States — thanks to that,
Vietnam defeated this brutal and bar-
baric aggression. The biggest imperialist
power was defeated, and Vietnam be-
came for each one of us a symbol.

Vietnam became a symbol which
meant many things. In our country, In-
dia, we have a slogan, which today is
resounding in every city, inevery village,
which is repeated by all the political par-
ties. It is a simple slogan, which trans-
lated says: Vietnam, Vietnam, my name,
your name is Vietnam, Vietnam. We are
Vietnam.

We are Vietnam because we aspire to
be a Vietnam. And when we say that our
name is Vietnam, what do we mean?
Vietnam has come to mean in all the

_ languages of the world courage and

heroism unsurpassed, courage and
heroism which can never be defeated.

Vietnam has come to mean that the
most massive aggression by any im-
perialist and expansionist power can be
defeated by a people united.

Vietnam has come to mean that when a
people fights for its independence, for
peace and justice for its nation, it fights at
the same time for the independence of all
peoples, and for peace and justice for the
whole world.

We pledged ourselves, during the ag-
gression and after the aggression was de-
feated, that we who have, each one of us,
gained so much, have grown so much,
through participating in the struggle for
Vietnam, through having had the great
privilege of standing shoulder to shoul-
der with the Vietnamese people — we
pledged ourselves that we should never
forget the debt that we owe to Vietnam.

Many of us — I myself and many of
you — went to Vietnam during the bomb-
ing raids ofthe U.S. aggressors; we stood
on Vietnamese soil and saw the killing
and destruction, and we said: we shall
not forget this for as long as we live and
we dedicated ourselves to the cause for
which Vietnam fought and sacrificed so
much.

Today, dear friends, we have not for-
gotten. All those forces which stood with
ies! then, stand with Vietnam to-

ee TRIBUNE— MARCH 30, 1979—Page 7

ee ee Te