COMMUNISTS THE CONFRONTATION A TROUPE OF PATAGONIAN JUGGLERS WOULD HAVE RECEIVED A 
WARMER WELCOME FROM THE KREMLIN . NOT A SINGLE SOVIET REPORTER 
OR PHOTOGRAPHER WAS ON HAND WHEN THE MEN FROM PEKING APPEARED 
AT MOSCOW AIRPORT ; PRAVDA DID NOT EVEN MENTION THEIR ARRIVAL. 
AFTER MONTHS OF INVECTIVE, ACCUSATIONS AND COUNTERACCUSATIONS, THE GREAT CONFRONTATION BETWEEN 
SOVIET AND CHINESE PARTY DELEGATIONS WAS FINALLY AT HAND . EAST 
AND WEST WATCHED THE SHOWDOWN OR WHAT COULD BE SEEN OF 
IT WITH EQUAL FASCINATION . ALTHOUGH NIKITA KHRUSHCHEV SUDDENLY DISCOVERED URGENT 
BUSINESS IN KIEV, THE KREMLIN WAS STIFFLY CORRECT ABOUT IT ALL, 
SENT OUT ITS CHIEF DIALECTICIAN, LANKY, AUSTERE MIKHAIL SUSLOV, TO MEET 
THE VISITORS . HEAD OF PEKING'S SEVEN-MAN MISSION : TENG HSIAO-PING, 
SECRETARYGENERAL OF THE CHINESE COMMUNIST PARTY . AS TENG STEPPED OUT 
OF A SOVIET TU-104 JET, A CROWD OF CHINESE RESIDENTS IN 
MOSCOW, WATCHED CLOSELY BY A CHINESE ARMY COLONEL, SENT UP A 
CHEER . SUSLOV SMILED, STEPPED FORWARD AND SHOOK TENG'S HAND . 
BUT THE RUSSIAN OMITTED THE USUAL BRIEF WELCOMING ADDRESS, INSTEAD POLITELY 
SUGGESTED THAT TENG MIGHT LIKE A TWO-HOUR REST BEFORE GETTING DOWN 
TO BUSINESS . WHEN A CHINESE DELEGATE REMARKED ON THE CHILLY 
57O TEMPERATURE, A MUSCOVITE RED REPLIED : " WE HOPE IT 
WILL GET WARMER . " FRESH INSULTS. IN ONE SENSE, THINGS 
UNDOUBTEDLY GOT WARMER WHEN BOTH SIDES MET BEHIND THE MASSIVE WALLS 
OF A RARELY USED MANSION IN THE LENIN HILLS SECTION OF 
MOSCOW . SUSLOV AND TENG EXCHANGED TOASTS, BUT THAT WAS JUST 
ROUTINE . FOR UNDER THE POSE OF POLITENESS, THE SINO-SOVIET QUARREL 
WAS BECOMING RUDER THAN EVER . WITHOUT EXPLANATION, PEKING SUDDENLY WITHDREW 
ITS TWO ENTRIES FROM AN INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL ABOUT TO OPEN 
IN MOSCOW . AND JUST BEFORE THE PARTY LEADERS MET, KHRUSHCHEV 
AND MAO TSE-TUNG EXCHANGED A FRESH ROUND OF INSULTS OVER RED 
CHINA'S 25-POINT DENUNCIATION OF SOVIET POLICY . ALTHOUGH THE SOVIETS THEMSELVES 
REFUSED TO PUBLISH IT, MOSCOW COMPLAINED LAST WEEK THAT CHINESE AGENTS 
HANDED OUT THE DOCUMENT IN CITIES FROM ODESSA TO LENINGRAD AND 
EVEN IN THE ATOMIC RESEARCH CENTER OF DUBNA, NEAR MOSCOW. CHINESE 
CREWS ON THE PEKING-MOSCOW EXPRESS SCATTERED BUNDLES OF THE MANIFESTO THROUGH 
COACH WINDOWS, USED THE TRAIN'S PUBLIC-ADDRESS SYSTEM TO READ THE CHINESE 
CHARGES TO THE CAPTIVE SOVIET AUDIENCE . AFTER MOSCOW EXPELLED THREE 
CHINESE DIPLOMATS FOR HAVING A HAND IN THIS EXTRAORDINARY CIRCULATION CAMPAIGN, 
PEKING OSTENTATIOUSLY WELCOMED THEM HOME WITH BOUQUETS OF FLOWERS . AT 
THE SAME TIME, THE CHINESE CONDEMNED THE SOVIET MOVE AS A 
VIOLATION OF ITS RIGHT, AS A GOVERNMENT, TO CIRCULATE STATEMENTS ABROAD 
. NONSENSE, REPLIED THE SOVIETS . WHAT GAVE THE CHINESE THE 
IDEA THAT THEY COULD " BEHAVE AS THOUGH THEY WERE IN 
ONE OF THE PROVINCES OF CHINA ? " SUCH TACTICS, FUMED 
THE KREMLIN, WERE PLAINLY A VIOLATION OF SOVIET SOVEREIGNTY : " 
IT IS OBVIOUS THAT INSTEAD OF SEARCHING FOR WAYS TO A 
RAPPROCHEMENT, THE CHINESE LEADERSHIP AIMS AT AGGRAVATING DIFFERENCES . " EQUALLY 
MATCHED . IF THAT WAS PEKING'S PURPOSE, IT COULD FIND NO 
BETTER MAN THAN TENG . SHORT, STOCKY, IN HIS 60S, TENG 
WAS BELIEVED BADLY CRIPPLED IN THE CHINESE CIVIL WAR, STILL HAS 
A LIMP AND A NERVOUS TIC WHEN HE SPEAKS WHICH DOES 
NOT KEEP HIM FROM SPEAKING OFTEN AND ABRASIVELY . NO STRANGER 
TO THE RUSSIANS, HE ATTENDED TWO PREVIOUS MOSCOW MEETINGS ON THE 
SPLIT IN 1957 AND IN 1960 . A VETERAN OF MAO'S 
LONG MARCH TO YENAN IN THE 1930S, TENG CAME TO PROMINENCE 
AS A POLITICAL COMMISSAR IN THE ARMY, SINCE 1952 HAS RISEN 
TO A PLACE AMONG THE TOP FOUR OR FIVE MEN IN 
RED CHINA'S HIERARCHY . IN PRESTIGE AND PERSONALITY HE IS A 
MATCH FOR SUSLOV, 60, WHO FOR YEARS WAS STALIN'S IDEOLOGICAL MOUTHPIECE, 
AND NOW SUPPLIES KHRUSHCHEV WITH THE THEORETICAL JUSTIFICATIONS FOR POLITICAL STRATEGY 
. INEVITABLY, WESTERN DIPLOMATS SPECULATED WHETHER THE RED CHINESE AND THE 
SOVIETS WOULD SEVER PARTY CONNECTIONS OR DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS, CARRY THE FEUD 
TO A SUMMIT SESSION OF WORLD COMMUNIST LEADERS, OR MERELY AGREE 
TO CONTINUE TO BE DISAGREEABLE . WHATEVER HAPPENED, THE GRAVEST SCHISM 
IN THE HISTORY OF COMMUNISM WAS AT HAND . 