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.