How to Get Along

Last October, after Peking granted a temporary visa to Frederick C. Nossal of the Toronto Globe and Mail (circ. 226,000), Nossal joined a corps of foreign correspondents distinguished mainly for partisan reporting. Indeed, of Peking's 25-man complement of visiting newsmen, only two others--both wire-service men, one from Agence France-Presse and one from Reuters, Ltd.--are of the non-Communist press. After reading thousands of words of Nossal's copy, his hosts expressed themselves as more than satisfied with the new visitor. Conferring on him the distinction of being the Western Hemisphere's first Red China-based newsman, they extended Nossal's visa another six months--and even let him bring in a car.

From Peking's point of view, such courtesies to the Globe and the Globe's Nos sal were no more than reciprocal. In Red China's longstanding suit for admission to the United Nations, the Toronto Globe is a warm Canadian ally. "To refuse to recognize the real, effective Chinese government is bad enough," said the Globe in an editorial last August. "But to pretend that a rump regime, decaying on a small island, is the true government of China is sheer folly."

During his first six months in Peking, Austrian-born Correspondent Nossal, 33, has done little to impair the Globe's diplomatic relations with Red China. Bland, approving copy has flowed westward, uncensored, on Red China officialdom ("gracious and courteous"), babies ("cute and chubby and cuddlesome"), the sights in the capital ("Peking is almost ready for the tourists; it has little to be ashamed of and much to be proud of"), Premier Chou En-lai ("vibrant personality"), and industry ("The organization of China's industrial enterprises is excellent"). Sometimes his stories have sounded as if they were translated from the original Red Chinese: "The West must come to China, even if it involves the loss of Formosa. The world has reached a stage where most nations would probably admire the U.S. for withdrawal from Formosa."

Critical copy has been rare and mild. To Nossal, "gentle" was the word for Red Chinese thought control. In another dispatch he wrote: "Here in China, if the weaklings (or rightists or anyone who isn't for the ruling circles) make too much noise, they are silenced smartly." Then he added: "Any Western commentators who suggest that the masters of Peking do away with their critics are talking utter nonsense."

Nossal's uncritical reporting from Red China can be explained partly in terms of Red China's low tolerance for any other kind, partly because he went to Peking under orders from the Globe to stick to features and to avoid antagonizing his hosts. In any event, it hardly seems worth the expense.

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