Assignment in Peking

It was, remarked David K.E. Bruce as he crossed from Hong Kong into China last week, a "very intriguing" assignment. That said, the 75-year-old veteran diplomat, who had previously served as ambassador to Paris, London and Bonn, flew on to Peking from Canton in a Chinese Trident jet to begin his new chores as chief of the U.S. Liaison Office to the People's Republic of China. There, for the first time since Nixon's visit, an American flag was raised, signaling the official establishment of formal relations between the U.S. and China after a lapse of 23 years.

Bruce's reception in the Chinese capital was cordial but low-keyed. On the day after his arrival, he was received by Chiao Kuan-hua, vice minister of foreign affairs. Next afternoon Bruce saw Foreign Minister Chi Pengfei; in the evening Chiao Kuan-hua gave a dinner for the entire American mission, including Marine guards and Seabees, at the New Peking International Club.

An American advance team has been working out arrangements for the liaison office for the past month, and has found the Chinese extraordinarily cooperative. Scores of Chinese workers labored round the clock to put the finishing touches on the new tiled-roof limestone compound that will house the mission (temporary headquarters have been set up in a diplomatic apartment building until the building is completed in early June). Peking permitted the U.S. to fly in two cargo planes from Guam loaded with furniture, cars, appliances and supplies--causing considerable surprise and some resentment among other members of the diplomatic community who have been denied similar requests.

Bruce does not have the title of ambassador. But Chiao graciously addressed him as "Mr. Ambassador" at last week's meeting, and the new mission will be an embassy in everything but name. It will provide office space for the 31-member liaison staff (ten of whom speak Chinese) and a residence for the Bruces. Staff members will be limited to a twelve-mile radius of the capital; their counterparts in Washington will be confined, like other Communist representatives, to a 25-mile radius. Ordinarily, diplomats can travel outside the restricted boundaries with special permission, and both countries have indicated they would approve a reciprocal easing of restrictions.

The main business of the mission will be, as Bruce put it, to normalize relations. Apart from that, it will oversee American trade with China, which is expected to reach $500 million this year, largely due to the sale of cotton, grain, five Boeing 707s, and $9,000,000 worth of RCA communications satellite equipment. Much of the serious political business, however, is expected to be handled in Washington by Presidential Aide Henry Kissinger and Chinese Representative to the U.S. Huang Chen, who is expected to arrive by mid-June.

The Chinese people have been carefully prepared for the American presence. Gone from the streets are banners saying U.S. IMPERIALISM IS THE MAIN ENEMY OF MANKIND. Instead, the watchword is a quote from Mao: "Make the past serve the present, and foreign things serve China." Bruce's arrival was given routine coverage in Chinese papers.

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