ANNEX 3
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Points From Individual Visits
China
1. I expected Peking to be reminiscent of the Soviet cities with which I have some acquaintance. Apart from one or two ministries, a hotel and one or two gargantuan main roads, however, Soviet architecture and town planning has left surprisingly little imprint. The city is now poised for advance (if that is the word) into modern high-rise architecture. Older parts are being re-built and to this end the ancient city walls are being torn down (cf Moscow in the 1950s).
An underground network is also under construction.
2. In retrospect, the prevailing colours of the city appear to have been brown and grey. The atmosphere was permeated with a thin dust, as a protection against which many Chinese wore a white cover over nose and mouth. "Peking throat" was an affliction much talked
about, as was the general air pollution which increases each autumn with the lighting of household fires. The surrounding drabness merely served to enhance the splendours of the Forbidden City which I was fortunately able to see. The Great Wall, too, - even with a bitter wind whistling along the battlements - and the Ming Tombs, where no birds sang, were equally stunning.
3.
During a talk with Messrs Tao Bingwei and Hsia Zhongcheng of the Institute of International Studies I was given the standard Chinese line on Afghanistan and Cambodia. There was no easy solution to either crisis and neither the USSR nor Vietnam would make any concessions unless forced to do so. When I said it was necessary to ensure that both problems were kept in the forefront of world attention, they made emphatic reply that this was not enough; it was necessary to give active support to the resistance groups eg with arms.
4.
On the Communist Parties of South East Asia they reiterated the view that they were part of the local scene and that China could not interfere in the internal affairs of other countries. They claimed
CONFIDENTIAL
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