State Dept. Hears Chinese Communists Are Aiding Arab Terrorists

A State Department spokesman said today that the Department has received reports that Communist China is supplying the so-called Palestine Liberation Army with military equipment, but that these reports were not conclusive. Robert J. McClosky, State Department spokesman, said: “We have had reports to the effect that the Chinese Communists are supplying arms and otherwise embroidering relations with the Palestine Liberation Army but we have no documented evidence.”

(Israeli concern over the development stems from the prospect that Communist Chinese assistance may increase the effectiveness of sabotage incursions into Israel. The Jewish Telegraphic Agency has reported a number of times in the last year that Ahmed Shukairy, chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization, has been in close contact with Peking, receiving not only arms but also training facilities for his “army” from Communist China.”)

Experts here noted that the total value of the Communist-Chinese-supplied arms was trifling compared with the hundreds of millions of dollars worth of arms given or sold by the United States and the Soviet Union to various Arab countries. The significance attached here to the report of the arms sales stems from a belief that it reflects a new Chinese Communist move into the Middle East to establish a foothold among the Arab “revolutionary” regimes. The Chinese weapons, it is believed here, are relatively obsolete small arms, such as rifles and light machine guns, that were originally manufactured in the Soviet Union and found their way into Arab hands either through Communist China or from the semi-clandestine arms market that flourishes in the Middle East with money supplied by the Chinese.