China-Soviet Talks Will Begin Oct. 4
China and the Soviet Union will begin a seventh round of normalization talks in Peking on Oct. 4, a Foreign Ministry spokesman announced Wednesday.
He told a weekly news briefing the talks would be led by Soviet Vice Foreign Minister Leonid F. Ilychev and his Chinese counterpart, Qian Qichen. He gave no further details.
Ilychev and Qian also led the last round of talks in Moscow in April, trying to settle the deep-seated political, ideological and geographical differences that have strained their relations for 25 years. Officials reported little progress from those discussions.
China has stressed repeatedly that relations between the two Communist giants cannot be normalized until Moscow removes what Peking describes as the “three main obstacles.” The obstacles are Moscow’s support for Vietnam’s troops in Cambodia, the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan and the massive Russian military presence along China’s northern border.
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