The Michigan Daily-Wednesdoy, June 7, 1978-POag7
STEPS UP DIPLOMATIC CONTACTS AND AID
China counters USSR in Africa
An AP New Analysis
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AP)
-Alarmed at the mounting Soviet
penetration of Africa, China is reasser-
ting itself on the continent it once
declared "ripe for revolution."
China's new stirring in Africa follows
more than two years of low-profile
diplomacy that began in late 1975 after
massive shipments of Soviet arms and
thousands of Cuban troops put the
Marxist government of Agostinho Neto
in power in Angola.
PEKING-ALONG with the United
States, Zaire, South Africa and Fran-
ce-backed the losing side in Angola's
civil war. But unwilling to risk the
wrath of African states supporting the
Neto government, the Chinese dropped
all support for the two rival movements
fighting in Angola.
This and the death of Mao Tse-tung
led to a period of reassessment in
China, whose new Africa policy is only
now beginning to emerge. Sings of con-
cern over what the Chinese call the
"struggle against Soviet hegemonism"
have emerged over the past three
weeks:
-Chinese Foreign Minister Huang
Hua rushed to Zaire last week for con-
sultation with President Mobutu Sese
Seko, pledging aid and support.
MOBUTU PERSONALLY took
Huang to Shaba Province to stress his
claims of Soviet and Cuban in-
volvement in the invasion of rebellious
Angolan-based Lunda tribesmen.
-Late last month, Mozambique's
President Samora Machel met with
Chinese Communist Party Chairman
Hua Kuo-feng in Peking to discuss the
racial turmoil in southern Africa.
-President William Tolbert of
Liberia, one of the most pro-Western
leaders in Africa, has been invited to
China on a state visit beginning June 19.
-RWANDA'S PRESIDENT, Maj.
Gen. Juvenal Habyalimana, is
scheduled to arrive in China Thursday
for an official visit.
-There have been unconfirmed
reports of stepped-up arms deliveries
from China via Tanzania for Rhodesian
guerrilla forces based in Mozambique.
While the Soviet Union has concen-
trated on providing arms to its African
allies, China has been winning friends
quietly through its aid programs.
The Chinese projects include building
roads in Somalia, 9 rice mill in Kenya,
a bridge over the Chari River linking
Chad with Cameroon and a textile fac-
tory in Ethiopia. The Chinese also are
providing medical technicians in
Senegal, helping establish a 500-acre
sugar plantation in Sierra Leone and
providing technical assistance in a
dozen other countries.
THE RESURGENCE of Chinese in-
volvement in Africa could serve
Western interests in helping to curb
spreading Soviet and Cuban influence.
But as a reflection of long-standing
Sino-Soviet rivalry, it also could con-
tribute to the further fragmentation of
this troubled continent, whose nations
already are sharply divided into rival
ideological camps.
In Zaire, Huang conferred with
Mobutu for several days on how best
China could support the vast,
economically ailing country in the
heart of Africa. Huang called the in-
vasion of Shaba not an isolated incident
"but part of a world strategy" by the
Soviet Union.
Machel's visit to China is regarded as
particularly significant in view of the
key role Mozambique plays in
providing bases for one of the two black
nationalist guerrilla armies fighting in
neighboring Rhodesia. With Soviet and
Cuban backing for Joshua Knomo's
guerrilla forces in Zambia, China ap-
parently is cultivating Nkomo's rival,
Mozambique based Robert Mugabe.
Mugabe, whose forces are doing most
of the fighting in Rhodesia, was given
red carpet treatment in Peking last
year on a visit. At a banquet in his
honor, Mugabe expressed "deep thanks
and gratitude to China for actively sup-
porting the people of Zimbag, Bajia in
their struggle." Then, according to the
New China News Agency, Mugabe
declared the Soviet Union had "ulterior
motives" in supporting liberation
movements in southern Africa.
They'll fly high in
self-made planes
(Continuedfrom Page 3)
Kerns, who's been at it six years,
figures he'll have invested around
$6,000 and some 2500 hours (or 105
straight days) in his craft before he can
"go out and turn the world upside .
down" in December.
When Wainfan'4 lighter hand-made
plane makes its first flight it will have
cost him about $4,000, but that cost
"will rise to infinity as I modify it with
time." Wainfan said he has seen two
deadlines come and go already, so he no
longer keeps his eye on any particular
completion date but just hopes to be
done towards the end of next summer.
He began construction in his New York
home in 1975.
KERN§ HAS BEEN flying for six
years and now works as flight instruc-
tor when he's not working on his plane
and studying.-1e said he's interested in
dipping, rolling and spinning across the
sky when he gets up in his 19-foot long,
gfass bubble-topped plane. "It's-like a
sportscar with wings on it," he said
with a grin.
Wainfan has been flying five years
and describes his two-seater as "a
somewhat more docile aircraft" than
Kerns'. "It's for going out and looking
at the world, basically," said Wainfan
as he looked over his fuselage.
Both students used manuals from
commercial designers and Kerns said
anyone could make a plane as long as
the builder doesn't try to make any
modifications. "Being an aerospace
engineer doesn't help that much," Ker-
ns said. "You have to be good with
tools, like to work in the shop, and that's
about all the qualifications you-need."
Kerns recalled the last project he com-
pleted was a tin lamp in a junior high
shop class.
BUT WAINFAN said he has made a
series of "detailed refinements to make
the thing a .little. more comfortable."
He's extended the tail and tried four or
five designs for the landing gear lock
system without coming up with one that'
suits him. "Nothing makes you careful
like knowing you have your own life in
your hands," Wainfan said.
Kerns expects to live near the home
of the aerospace industry in California
and fly back to visit, getting 25 miles to
the gallon on the way. He predicts "as
long as I'm interested in flying it, I'm
sure it'll be in sound condition. Kerns is
thinking of browns and yellows for the
exterior and his wife is weaving the
seat coverings.
Wainfan stressed that both planes
will be "considerably stronger than
production aircraft"_ because of the
care an individual is willing to take. He
also said the private small aircraft in-
dustry is building "archaic" products,
mostly out of the fear that innovation
brings a higher chance of liability suits.
WAINFAN'S VW engine should get
about 50 miles to the gallon of regular
low-lead auto gasoline. His "very nim-
ble" plane threatens to be "a real sweat
box" in the summer because of a
plexiglas bubble on the top, but he plans
to fly year-round in clear weather.
Wainfan, who says he'll probably
never spend quite as much time in the
air as he did on the ground putting the
plane together, can't decide whether to
paint his project red and black, which
might absorb too much heat, or white,
which is "too trite."
The time, money and energy that go
into a handmade plane aren't spent in
the .name of economy according to
Wainfan. "If your sole goal is to have an
airplane, buy one. Don't build it," he
said.
The bobwhite, or Colinus virginianus,
the best known species of quail in the
United States, is found throughout the
country and is the only species of quail
.that occurs east of the Mississippi
River.