World: CHINA: ON THE VERGE OF SPEAKING TERMS

IN the unlikely setting of a fashion show staged early this month by the Yugoslav embassy in the Palace of Culture in Warsaw, U.S. Ambassador Walter Stoessel managed to engage the interpreter of the Chinese embassy in a brief conversation. Between any other two men in the room, the encounter would have gone unnoticed. But as Stoessel and the interpreter chatted, other diplomats in the room looked on in surprise. For the first time in nearly two years, American and Chinese representatives had established direct contact.

After a long period of self-imposed isolation, Peking has apparently decided to recommence at least a...

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