' Th* lataat publicised clash on th* highly volatileorder appears.to ba tha raault of tha high level of tensions that now. exist ratheralibarata prelude to anlargad military ooo-fllct. exchange of pcotaat note* onugust indicates that Uthia is the largest clash since wtha lnoidenta last March onrj Silver along tha eastern por-.
tlon of tha frontier, but thaediate military crisis appeara to be.
i of th*lash. oth sides have thus far Halted their.political response to the exchange of diplomatic notes couched in standard protest style There have been none of the large scale demonstrations in China that characterised Peking'sfollowing the incident* in March, and Moscow's propaganda coverage) has been unusuallyw*i
ffca axchanga is onee-riaa of armed lnoidenta that have occurred along this stretch of the Sinkiangatssakhatan border. Last June the two aides exchanged
charges of .an "armedugust. The agree
. and in May tha Sovietsreportedly made no reference
that Chineee troops had "illegally" to tha larger territorialoccupied several square mile* of Peking had been pressing onfrontier. -
Faking waa tbe first toidxa the clash in an apparent at-"teapt to portray the Soviets asth* unreasonable, aggressiven tha dispute. Each aide almostprotested the Incident, however, charging the other- "preplanned attack." The Chinese flater onuguat aoeoaed tha po-
Viet* of continuing to "amass troops"the area and "incessantly".lng on Chinese frontier guards*., i
Currant evidence- suggests /aide Intends to widen the'Clashonflict. /There are no indica- iona in communications>r. gencm that Soviet unite in tha ares have bean mowed or placed onBo altable Chinese army .units arm known to be in tha area *
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aid* ia likaly to covprceUs* fuadaawntal poa'tiona, hovavar, aad gueatlona of national pras-tig* could laad toalativaly minor Tba latest clash can only
11 WEKIXT BFTVirW
IS Aug 69
Original document.
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