TNAG-0335-FCO40-371-Visits-of-Secretary-of-State-for-Foreign-and-Commonwealth-Af-1972 — Page 118

NOTHING TO BE WRITTEN IN THIS MARGIN

CONFIDENTIAL

national tradition of chauvinism and territorial

ambition led inevitably to imperialism.

New Tsars

had replaced the old; but in essence the ambition

of the Soviet Union to impose its own will on China,

as on other States, remained unchanged.

18. Even if the experiment of the Cultural

Revolution has failed and it is too early to make

such a sweeping judgement the Chinese see the threat

posed by the Soviet Union as more direct and more

sinister than ever. The invasion of Czechoslovakia

and the Brezhnev doctrine of limited sovereignty

confirmed China's fears. Her state of alarm was

further intensified by the subsequent clashes on the Ussuri River in 1969; the consequent build-up of Soviet forces on the border and what the Chinese see

as transparent attempts at encirclement.

19. In sum, and despite the continued conflict in Vietnam, the Soviet Union has replaced the United

States in China's eyes as the major direct threat to

her. The central purpose of Chinese foreign policy is thus to frustrate the Soviet Union in the pursuit

of her objectives world-wide. But however menacing

the threat from the Soviet Union, she is not the

only power which wishes to impose her will by force

on others. China objects as a matter of principle

to the concept of a bipolar world dominated by the

two superpowers. A secondary purpose therefore of China's foreign policy is to encourage multipolarity. For this reason China favours the expansion of the EEC, and supports efforts by Third World countries to

oppose domination by the superpowers. Chinese

distrust of the Soviet Union thus results in

/policies