Book Review: Far East: Soviet Scientist in Red China
| Published date | 01 December 1965 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070206502000439 |
| Author | Frederick Nossal |
| Date | 01 December 1965 |
| Subject Matter | Book Review |
BOOK REVIEWS
569
Chinas was
akin
to
moral
delinquency,
that
the
Peking
regime
enjoyed
no
significant
public
support, and
that
diplomatic
recognition or
admis-
sion
of
Communist China
to
the
United
Nations
was
unthinkable.
The
ambassador
undoubtedly
contributed
to
the
gradual
hardening
of
a
policy
of
strong
support
for
Taiwan.
This
was
not
a
difficult
task,
for
those groups
in
the
United
States
who
questioned
the
wisdom
of
this
policy
or
who
favoured recognition
of
Communist
China
appear
to
have
had
no
spokesmen
in
Washington
during
Rankin's years
as
ambassador. What
may
be
the
most
significant
fact
in
this
narrative
is
that
Ambassador
Rankin
found
liberals
in Congress
and
the
Depart-
ment
of
State
quite
as
friendly
to
his
views
as were
the
military
and
navy
people
and
conservatives
of
Senator
Knowland's
persuasion.
Only
on
such
questions
as
what
off-shore
islands
should
be
defended
and
to
what
degree
Nationalist
China
must
agree
to
prior
consultation before
taking
steps
that
could
lead to
war
was
there
any
dispute
among
American
officials.
Ambassador
Rankin
insisted
on
limits
to
the
support
that
his
government
would
provide. In
this
respect,
and
apparently
in
all
others, he
was
a
faithful
and
energetic
representative
of
his
govern-
ment.
Both
permitted
themselves
a rigidity
that
paralleled
the
rigidity
of
Peking,
and
therein
lies
the
greatest
crisis
confronting
the
world
today.
Michigan
State
University
PAUL
A.
VARG
SOVIET
SCIENTIST
IN
RED
CHINA.
By
Mikhail
A.
Klochko.
1964.
(Montreal:
International
Publishers. x,
213pp.
$5.50)
Mikhail
Klochko
is
living
proof
that
the
Chinese Communists
are
among
the
most
security-conscious
leaders
in
the
world,
particularly
when
it
comes
to
military
capability. In
Peking,
the
visitor
is
not
even
allowed
to
take
a
photograph
of
a
bunch
of
soldiers
strolling
through
a
park.
Professor
Klochko
was
in
China
as
a
member
of
a
Soviet
scientific
mission
from
1958
until
1960
when
Nikita
Khrushchev
in
a
fit
of pique
withdrew
1,400
advisers
in
a
matter
of
weeks.
Professor
Klochko
came
to
like
his Chinese
hosts
but
learned
little
about
their
scientific
ability.
He
had extreme bad luck
in the timing
of
his
book.
He
belittles
Chinese scientific
achievements.
His
book,
and
his
predictions
(on
page
208)
that
it
will be
a
long time
before
China
joins
the
nuclear
club,
were
just
doing
the
rounds
of
the
embassies
in
Washington
when
Peking's
first
atomic
test
occurred in
October,
1964.
Mikhail
Klochko
was
granted
political
asylum
in
Canada
in
1961,
and
his
disenchantment
with
his Soviet
masters
comes
through
very
clearly.
He
writes
of
Mr.
Khrushchev's
allegations
that
Soviet special-
ists
in
China
had
been
molested,
attacked,
spied
upon,
scorned
and
ignored
by
their
hosts.
Some of
these
claims
he
says were
well
founded.
But
he
was
angered
that
Moscow
did
not
give
Peking an
opportunity
to
mend
its
ways.
"I
never
heard
a
single
Soviet
adviser in
China speak
approvingly
of
the
brutal
Soviet
note
[listing
the
Kremlin's
complaints]
or
of
our
sudden
recall
home,"
the
author
says.
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