Peking 72, Taipei 52

Last week's announcement that the Communist regime in Peking and Premier George Papadopoulos' right-wing colonels in Athens had agreed to exchange ambassadors was hardly calculated to please dyed-in-the-silk Maoists round the world. Nor will the word, expected soon, that Peking will recognize the Franco regime in Spain.

But China's foreign policy has other goals. Partly, it aims to end the kind of isolation that might tempt a potential enemy, namely the Soviet Union, to believe that Peking could be shoved around with diplomatic impunity. It is also designed to push Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalist regime into the tightest possible diplomatic corner.

On both counts, the Chinese drive has been a success. In the past year, the number of countries that have diplomatic relations with Peking has grown from 54 to 72, while Taipei's recognition roster has declined from 62 to 52. Besides the U.S., which still maintains relations with Taipei even though the Nixon trip did give a kind of de facto recognition to Peking, the only front-rank industrial country remaining on Taiwan's list is Japan.

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