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whether some of the cadres, especially those who know something of the outside world, may not be concerned about China's prestige abroad if she continues to defy international practice.
5.
I mentioned in my last letter that there were signs of a certain chill in Sino/Pakistan relations. There were further signs of Chinese dissatisfaction with the Pakistanis in the bulletin this time. For example, the Reference News carried several articles from Indian newspapers suggesting that the new Pakistan Foreign Minister might take a more flexible line than his predecessor on Indo/Pakistan differences. One of the articles even hinted that a settlement of the Kashmir question might be arranged by the new Foreign Minister.
In fact All of this is of course anathema to the Chinese. these suggestions may have prompted the series of brief reports which have appeared in the People's Daily recently quoting extracts from speeches by various Pakistani Ministers re- affirming the right of self-determination for the people of Kashmir, The bulletin also continued to report speculation in various Indian and Western newspapers that following Kosygin's visit to Pakistan, the Russians were bent on gaining a foothold there, Lastly, the Reference News had a couple of hostile items on the agreement to allow the US to set up a satellite tracking station in Pakistan and on a recent cholera outbreak there.
It is fairly clear that all
of these articles were chosen for inclusion in the bulletin as a sign to Chinese cadres that just recently the Pakistanis have not been comporting themselves satisfactorily as allies of China,
I am sending copies of this letter and the Digest to Roy Spendlove in Washington, Robin McLaren and Ashworth in Hong Kong, Reg Hibbert in Singapore, Wade-Gery in Saigon, Stewart in Hanoi, Chanceries at Rawalpindi and Moscow, Kathleen Draycott in IRD, Frank Brewer in JRD and McKearney in PUSD.
Your wr
Lemand.
(L.V. Appleyard)
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