A strange statement Mr Howell!

I was interested in the letter from John Burley last week. Although I take issue with Mr Burley's assertions that the ICPA Conference was the greatest victory for world peace in "the whole southern hemisphere for many a year" etc. etc. my purpose in writing to you is not primarily to refute Mr Burley's arguments.

Mr Burley produces no argument whatsoever, only tiresome Soviet-style rhetoric based more on fantasy than fact.

At the ICPA conference which I attended we were forced to sit through one speaker after another who offered us empty words In the same vein. If phrasemongering was the way to to achieve world peace there would be no buildup of Soviet troops on the borders of Western Europe and Chins, there would have been no Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia and there would have been no Soviet-backed Cuban intervention in Angola.

When Mr Burley feel/inclined to put the case for world peace Soviet-style on the basis of world realities, I will be more than happy to take up the question with him. However, among the mish-mash of platitudes In the letter there Lies a very disturbing matter of fact. This is the reference made to the "unsolicited letter" written by Mr Ron Howell, Chairman of the New Zealand China Society to the Rev. John Hinch cliff.

Mr Howell says in this letter "Permit me to offer congratulations on the obvious success of the Convention for Peace Action."

The question, of course. Is success for whom? Numerous letters and articles to Salient have demonstrated that the only "success" of the conference was a temporary cover up for the aggressive activities of the two Superpowers, especially the Soviets.

I find it disturbing that a person in Mr Howell's position can publicly applaud that kind of "success". Surely he is not so lost in the past that he does not appreciate the view that Chinese official spokespersons have been hammering for several years that the Soviet Union, as the rising imperialist power, is the main threat to world peace.

Since it was formed the China Society has taken upon itself the job of explaining China's policies to New Zealanders. Often this has been in difficult circumstances but even on matters that are not well understood the China Society has done a good job, for example, Mr Lake's excellent pamphlet on Tibet. But I'm afraid Mr Howell's support for the "peace conference" will only confuse China's friends and comfort her enemies.