Sino-Soviet Straws in the Wind

SOVIET deputy foreign minister Leonid F Iilichev and his team stayed on in Beijing longer than most people expected. He was supposed to stay with the Soviet ambassador in Beijing, At the last minute the Chinese decided to be a little more hospitable and he became a state guest. The CCP has decided to normalise its relations with the French Communist Party. These are some (more) straws in the wind to indicate that the Chinese are willing to do business with everyone, the Soviet Union included. Parthasarathy is leading a delegation of eminent (and acceptable to government) social scientists to Beijing and is sure to bring back some news for Indira Gandhi. We have been arguing in these columns for a long time now that the Chinese book is not a closed book. It is worthwhile to talk business with them. It would be good if the acceptable social scientists under Partha- sarathys leadership also underlined the point.