It was not exactly the smoothest of arrivals. When the Air France 707 bearing the Chinese delegation to the United Nations came to a halt at John F. Kennedy Airport last week, no one could find a key to the door of the loading platform, and the door had to be taken off its hinges before Peking's men could disembark. Then the loudspeaker system went on the blink just as Deputy Foreign Minister Chiao Kuan-hua uttered the first words of his arrival speech. Chiao manfully went ahead anyway, and the words were duly recorded for television: "The people of the United States are a great people, and there exists a profound friendship between the peoples of China and the United States."
The ten-man delegation was clearly intent on following the cautious line laid down by Premier Chou En-lai for Peking's first representatives at the U.N. in 21 years. Quoting an old Chinese proverb. "Be careful when facing a problem," Chou declared in an interview: "We do not have too much knowledge about the U.N., and are not too conversant with the new situation that has risen in the U.N. We must be very cautious. This does not mean, however, that we do not have self-confidence. It means that we must not be indiscreet and haphazard."
The thought was faithfully repeated by Chief Delegate Chiao when he paid his first official call on Indonesia's Adam Malik, President of the General Assembly. Chiao said that his relatively small mission, unfamiliar with the world organization, might at first be less active than many members of the U.N. expected. Nonetheless, the Chinese will receive considerable press exposure this week—when Chiao becomes the first diplomat to visit ailing Secretary-General U Thant, who is hospitalized with an ulcer, then when he delivers his first speech in the General Assembly.
Chiao may well have something to say in a scheduled debate on a Soviet proposal for a worldwide nuclear-disarmament conference. The Security Council may also take up the smoldering conflict between India and Pakistan, and China may be hard put to explain its support of the Pakistan government to the Third World countries that support India and the Mukti Bahini rebels of East Pakistan. Another thorny issue to be debated is the security provided for U.N. delegates by the U.S. The Soviets have been so harassed by the extremist Jewish Defense League that they have threatened to leave New York and to try to take the U.N. with them. So far the Chinese have not been similarly bothered; pro-Mao demonstrators outnumbered the opposition 3 to 1 at the airport, and the anti-Maoists were kept out of sight.
Precise 15°/. The Chinese delegation, accompanied by two newsmen and 40 clerks, assistants, typists and chefs, moved into Manhattan in style. They rented chauffeur-driven Cadillacs to get around town (at $12 an hour) and took over the entire 72-room 14th floor of the Roosevelt Hotel—except for one room occupied for 25 years by an elderly widow who refused to move out. The midtown pad cost the People's Republic at least $2,160 per night. The hotel responded nimbly to every request from the Chinese. Color television sets and hot plates were added to every room, a Chinese chef was hired, extra-large teacups were bought and the red flag of China was hoisted beside the Stars and Stripes hanging in front of the hotel at Madison Avenue and 45th Street.