The People’s Republic of China today blamed the Middle East conflict on “Israeli-Zionist aggression” and “the contention of the United States and the Soviet Union for hegemony in the Middle East” which it claimed ran counter to “the struggle of the Palestinian and other Arab people against aggression and hegemonism.”
In a slashing attack aimed at Israel, the U.S. and the USSR, Chiao Kuan Hua, Chairman of the delegation of the People’s Republic of China to the United Nations warned the General Assembly that it was “unrealistic” to pin hopes for a Middle East settlement on UN resolutions.
PRAISES ARABS FOR WAGING WAR
In the final analysis, he said, the Arab territories and Palestinian rights can be restored by the Arabs “only by relying on their own close unity and unremitting struggle with the support of the people of the world.” Hua’s remark was interpreted by some observers here as dismissing a political solution and advocating violent means to achieve Arab aims in the Middle East. The Chinese Deputy Foreign Minister lauded the Egyptian-Syrian attack on Israel one year ago as “The Great October War” and praised the Arabs for waging an heroic battle.
Hua echoed yesterday’s General Assembly speech by Egyptian Foreign Minister Ismail Fahmy when he declared that there can be no Middle East settlement “so long as the lost Arab territories are not recovered and Palestinian national rights not restored.”
DENOUNCES U.S.-USSR DETENTE
Hua said that China has always backed the national rights of the Palestinians and declared that it was “entirely necessary” to discuss the Palestine Creation as a separate item on this year’s Assembly agenda. “We hope that the UN will rectify its long standing, unjust attitude on the Palestine question, recognize the Palestinian peoples’ national rights and support their restoration.” Hua said.
He denounced the “so-called detente” between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, noting that war broke out in the Middle East after the second U.S.-Soviet summit conference. He termed detente “a kind of quack medicine hawked by the Soviet leadership everywhere.” He contended that the “fierce contention” between the two superpowers will eventually lead to war between them “or the people will rise in revolution.” (By Yitzhak Rabi)
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