‘China Not A Threat’
The presi4ent of the Tramway workers’ Federation (Mr L. C. J. Southon) yesterday said he objected to the statement by the Prime Minister (Mr Holyoake) that China was pursuing policies that constituted the most serious threat to world peace and security and to United Nation’s objectives.
Mr Holyoake made this statement in Parliament on Tuesday when he said that the Government did not support the proposal for China’s admission to the United Nations.
“Mr Holyoake does not know what he’s talking about,” said Mr Southon. “I have toured China extensively on three occasions, including last month. I spoke to many of the Chinese leaders. “I was very concerned that they had made further explosions of nuclear weapons. I was assured by the Chinese leaders that they had no intention of committing aggression against any other nation. “They pointed out they have not one soldier or one military base outside Chinese territory. “The Chinese Prime Minister (Mr Chou En-lai) has said many times that China will never instigate war against the United States and that.
China would not be the first to use the bomb,” said Mr Southon.
Chinese leaders also said that America was committing many aggressive acts against China, he said. While he was in China recently America shot down an unarmed Chinese aircraft over the Yunan province. “The Chinese leaders say that although they have no aggressive intentions they would be fools if they left their territory and their people undefended.
“If Mr Holyoake can see any reason for declaring China is a menace to peace because of this, he has a
greater imagination than I have,” he said. China was concerned about the situation in Vietnam. She said that America was building a huge base in Vietnam with which to attack China, that America had ringed China with nuclear bases, that she had blocked China’s shores with the 7th Fleet and that she had Chiang Kai-shek in Formosa. “This all constitutes a threat to China’s safety and sovereignty. China has been compelled to take safety measures by arming herself against the fear of invasion backed and instigated by the United States,” Mr Southon said.
Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19660610.2.159
Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka
Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31082, 10 June 1966, Page 12
Word count
Tapeke kupu
361‘China Not A Threat’ Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31082, 10 June 1966, Page 12
Using this item
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
Stuff Ltd is the copyright owner for the Press. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Stuff Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.
Acknowledgements
Ngā mihi
This newspaper was digitised in partnership with Christchurch City Libraries.