Appendix

Summary

Gerald de Cruz was a prolific writer. These two articles provide a taste of the subjects that interested him, and his style of writing.

New Nation, 21 September 1971

THEIR LEADERS MAY CHANGE, BUT SINO-SOVIET DISPUTE LOOKS SET TO GO ON FOREVER

“A Communist is a Communist is a Communist.” said the bright and brash young man. “All the Russians and the Chinese have really been involved in, is a couple of skirmishes over their common border — and what's so inflammable about that? Isn't it normal on the part of neighbours to squabble?

“All the rest of it is merely verbal fireworks, a diversionary tactic to fool us into believing that they're enemies. At the right time they'll appear in their true light as fanatical Communist partners intent on world domination.”

This question of the true relationship between the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China is one of the most vital questions of the day.

It has become even more important in view of the modifications in Chinese foreign policy, the gradual emergence of detente between the United States and China, and the steady withdrawal of American forces from the Asian mainland.

If the bright young man is correct, then China will be able to bring tremendous concentration to bear soon on East and South- East Asia; if he is wrong, if the Soviet Union and China are really deeply involved in a contradiction of fundamental dimensions, then it is on its northern and north-western borders that the Chinese will have to focus their main attention.

I think he is completely wrong: I think that irrespective of what type of regime exists in either area, the contradictions between the two countries are of a fundamentally serious nature, with the deepest roots imaginable in geography, history, and contemporary imperatives. Mao has come and Mao will go, but the Sino–Soviet dispute bids fair to go on forever.

What is the Great Wall of China but man's longest (1500 miles) monument to fear and insecurity? Begun in 300 B.C. which is 2,300 years ago, it was first linked into a continuous line in the second century B.C. by the great unifier, Shih Huang Ti, first emperor of the Chin Dynasty.

What is the Great Wall of China but the strongest evidence possible that for the last 2000 years China has feared invasion from the north-west?