Rifles Vanish After Nixon Complains to Chinese Host

Rifle-toting police disappeared from outside the U.S. Embassy today for the first time since June after former President Richard M. Nixon told the Chinese he didn’t want to visit an embassy surrounded by guns.

An American diplomat told Nixon he had accomplished in one day what the embassy had been trying to achieve for five months.

A member of the Nixon party said the former President, in a meeting with Premier Li Peng Monday, told the Chinese he didn’t like guns and didn’t want to see guards with AK-47s outside the U.S. Embassy when he visited.

The embassy has protested three times in the last week over the alleged harassment of diplomats and their families--including police pointing rifles at diplomats’ children. American officials also have expressed concern over sharply increased surveillance of the embassy compound in recent days.

Li told Nixon the police presence was needed to guard against a possible escape by dissident Fang Lizhi and his wife, Li Shuxian.

Fang and his wife sought refuge at the embassy after the June military crackdown, when troops killed hundreds of unarmed civilians in clearing central Beijing of protesters. Both are wanted by Chinese police on charges of counterrevolutionary agitation.