Badgered Man

It was more than a "peace-loving" Chinese Communist could stand. Every recent visitor to Peking, from Britain or India or Burma, kept softly urging China's Chou En-lai to ease tensions and stop being so provocative. What's more, they insisted on taking literally what he had said about peaceful coexistence and noninterference in others' domestic affairs, and even acted as if they expected him to live up to his promises.

The latest such distinguished visitor was Burma's mild, shrewd little Premier U Nu. Mao Tse-tung's China gave him the regular bear-hug welcome, and was aggrieved to find its guest full of gentle remonstrances.

Under the Fans. When Chou En-lai recently visited Burma, said U Nu, he expressed his admiration for Burma's moral integrity. U Nu pointed the moral: "Friendly relations between countries, solidarity and progress rest mainly on moral integrity. Here lip service without sincerity cannot achieve anything." Commented Burma's English-language Nation: "It is something like saying to a dangerous animal, 'I know you are a good boy, and won't bite anyone,' when what one really means is, 'I hope you will be a good boy and not bite me.' "

With apparent inconsequentiality, U Nu chattered on about his country. "Burma is a hot country. In all the three seasons--summer, the monsoon and winter--people are perspiring." He added blandly: "I had seen that his Excellency Premier Chou En-lai was perspiring profusely under the fans." It was a sly dig: in Burma, a man is said to be "sweating under the fans" when he has something on his conscience.

U Nu went on to recount the long, friendly relationship between Burma and China. "I want to bring home the fact that only two wars were fought in the course of 1,000 years between China and Burma when China was ruled by foreign warlords who were out for territorial expansion," he said. "When China was ruled by her own national kings, it was found that peaceful relations existed between our two countries." Sitting near by, Moscow's chosen instrument Liu Shao-chi could not fail to get U Nu's point.

Rise in Temper. Such chidings (like those of Nehru and Attlee) seemed neither to soften Chou's temper nor change his tune. Scarcely had U Nu left Peking last week for a tour of Manchuria when Chou launched a furious tirade at the U.S.-Formosa security pact. "A grave, warlike provocation!" he cried. If the U.S. did not withdraw from its "occupation" of Formosa, "it must take upon itself all the grave consequences."

Said Chou: "Taiwan [Formosa] is China's territory, and Chiang Kai-shek is the public enemy of the Chinese people. To liberate Taiwan and liquidate the traitorous Chiang Kai-shek clique is a matter which falls entirely within the scope of

China's sovereignty and internal affairs, and no interference by any foreign country will be tolerated ... It is a genuine act of defense for the Chinese people to liberate their own territory."

Asking Red China to accept Chiang's presence on Formosa, complained Chou with Communist chop logic, was like asking a Munich-like appeasement. "To sacrifice territory and sovereignty can only lead to further aggression. It cannot bring about genuine peace. The Chinese people understand that only by resisting aggression can peace be defended."

Plainly, Chou En-lai had been sweating profusely behind the mask of peace.

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