Internal affair, says Chou
Paris: Experts on Chinese affairs believe that China has decided to remain “neutral” in the war between West and East Pakistan, reports AFP.
Their opinion is readically different from that of both the Indian and the Pakistani Press, and even of official circles in the two countries, which for diametrically opposite reasons tend to state that Peking has come out definitely on the side of Islamabad against the Bengali national movement.
And analysis of the telegram sent to Pakistani President Yahya Khan by Chinese Premier Chou En-lai shows that the Chinese leader does not really come out for West Pakistan against the Bengalis, but simply attacks India.
A Chinese note published by the New china News Agency on April 7, protesting against a demonstration staged outside the Chinese Embassy in New Delhi, is even clearer in this respect.
In this note, the demonstrators are not, as usual, referred to as “hooligans” or “bandits”, but simply as “Indians”. In addition, Peking does not criticize the participants for having demonstrated, but for having “slandered” China by accusing Peking of “helping the Pakistani Government” in ‘its war against the freedom-loving people of East Bengal.
Peking’s neutrality is underlined by the fact that, on the one hand, it uses the words “freedom-loving” to describe the Bengali people, but on the other hand places these words in quotes, attributing them to one of the many placaids placed before the Embassy by the demonstrators.
– While adopting a wait-and-see attitude towards the internal Pakistani crisis. China does not hide its aggressive attitude towards India.
Reference: Hindustan Standard 14.07.1971