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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, MAY 4, 1984
it passed on nuclear technology to Pakistan and uranium to South
Africa. The commerce sources said they had been given to under
stand that American concerns about safeguards were allayed when
China joined the International Atomic Energy Agency in January.
The safeguards set by the Vienna-based organization provide for
some inspections to insure that fissionable material is not di
verted to make weapons.
Despite the new economic bonds tying together two highly disparate
societies, one link remains uppermost, and should never be forgotten. The
NATIONAL REVIEW, in its May 18 issue, focuses on this key bedrock factor:
One fundamental historical force brought the United States and
China together in recent years: the growing military power of the
Soviet Union. That same historical force is the only binding
power that keeps them together. Alongside the vast threat from
the Soviet Union, which both China and the United States face,
the issue of Taiwan pales....
America has only one vital
interest in China: ensuring that Peking does not return to the
Soviet fold.
It must be realized that Beijing will continue to play its "U.S. card" only
as long as it perceives that Washington can stand up to Moscow's chal
lenges. Should America be further weakened, China will, to preserve its
own security, be tempted to patch things up with the
u.s.s.R.
The always perceptive Bruce Herschensohn, a local political commentator on
KABC (Channel 7) in Los Angeles expressed his fear for America's future,
should China ever return to the Soviet "fold." Summarizing his remarks as
near as I can, Mr. Herschensohn believed that the sale of nuclear
technology could be a very serious error down the road. What if, he said,
16 years from now (year 2000), China decided to recement the Soviet
alliance, throwing in its nuclear lot with the Soviets? What if also, by
then, much of Central America were to be lost to Communist regimes?
(The
Chinese criticized Mr. Reagan's policy in Central America.) The halls of
the U.N., Herschensohn said, would resound to the cheers of America' s
enemies (note Lamentations 2:16), and the U.S. would be isolated from its
allies--alone, he glumly predicted, in a hostile world.
Hong Kong--Last Sizable British Colony to Go
In another development regarding China, the British government, after 19
months of tough negotiations with Beijing, has publicly admitted that it
will not be able to continue British rule beyond 1997, the year the lease
over much of the prosperous Crown Colony runs out.
The Chinese held all the "cards" in the talks. Britain, a mere shadow of
its imperial self, had no choice but to cave in with regard to the last
sizable possession it has--truly � milestone in Britain's decline. The
prosperous, but now nervous, 5.3 million Chinese in Hong Kong will have no
choice but to accept Communist China's promises that the current free
capitalist system will be maintained, under Chinese sovereignty, for a SO
year period beyond 1997. But who can foresee what China will be like in
years to come? If anything marks Chinese politics, it is the likelihood of
sudden radical changes. After all, only 17 or 18 years ago China was in the
throes of its "cultural revolution."