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relations". He said that the leaders of both countries attached great importance to the con- sultations and "we are quite optimistic about the prospects of the future discussions". Per- haps he went too far and too fast.
Beijing Retracts Support for US-Japan Treaty
United Press International -8th November
46.
China has retracted its support for the US-Japanese Security Treaty aimed at countering Soviet attacks, reports
from Beijing said yesterday.
47.
The dramatic change in China's valuation of the US- Japanese military alliance was revealed on Friday when a group of Japanese visitors met with Party Politburo members LIAO Changzhi and WAN Li. Leader of the Japanese group, Tokyo's former ambassador to Beijing Heishiro Ogawa, told reporters accompanying him that LIAO said "China has never opposed or supported the US-Japan Security Treaty". The
remark was seen as a retraction of Chinese leader DENG
Xiaoping's 1978 statement that "strengthening Japan's defence capability and the US-Japan Security Treaty is a natural
course".
•
48.
The US-Japanese Security Treaty, signed in 1951 and revised in 1960, forms the basis for a wide spectrum of mili- tary cooperation between the two Pacific allies and is aimed
at countering attacks from communist powers, particularly the Soviet Union. Since the straining of ties between Beijing and Moscow in the late 1950s and China's normalisation of rela-
tions with Washington and Tokyo in 1972, it has become more evident the treaty's assumed enemy is the Soviet Union.
49.
Diplomatic analysts in Tokyo said China's modified policy apparently reflected the recent easing of tension bet- ween Beijing and Moscow. The analysts pointed out that the
subtle conciliation between China and the Soviet Union is a
backlash from the Reagan administration's decision to con- tinue arms sales to Taiwan over vehement Chinese protests.
/LI
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