COMMUNISTS WAIT TILL NEXT YEAR SCARCELY HAD THE SINO-SOVIET TALKS GOTTEN UNDERWAY 
THAN THE MEETING HEADED FOR COLLAPSE . IT DID NOT MUCH 
MATTER WHEN RED CHINA'S SEVEN-MAN DELEGATION WOULD PACK THEIR BAGS AND 
ACTUALLY LEAVE MOSCOW ; BACK HOME PEKING'S PEOPLE'S DAILY SEEMED READY 
TO CALL IT QUITS . " WE WANT UNITY, NOT A 
SPLIT, " SAID THE VOICE OF RED CHINA . " BUT 
WE HAVE TO POINT OUT WITH HEAVY HEARTS THAT EVENTS HAVE 
GONE CONTRARY TO OUR HOPES . THE SITUATION IS VERY GRAVE 
. " ABSOLUTE SECRECY . ALL WEEK THERE HAD BEEN A 
STRANGE SENSATION IN MOSCOW THAT MAYBE THERE WAS NO SINO-SOVIET MEETING 
AT ALL . THE KREMLIN ACTED AS THOUGH THE SHOWDOWN NEVER 
TOOK PLACE . DOM PRIEMOV, THE RECEPTION HOUSE WHERE THE SESSIONS 
WERE SUPPOSED TO BE HELD, WAS CAREFULLY AVOIDED BY SOVIET REPORTERS 
AND PHOTOGRAPHERS . ASKED WHY, A MOSCOW NEWS EXECUTIVE SAID SARCASTICALLY 
: " IT'S PAYDAY . THEY'VE ALL GONE FOR THEIR MONEY 
. " AFTER MEETING TWICE TO DISCUSS FORMALITIES, THE RUSSIANS AND 
RED CHINESE MET ONLY THREE TIMES DURING THE NEXT SEVEN DAYS 
. JUST BEFORE ONE SESSION BEGAN, A WESTERN REPORTER ASKED A 
SOVIET PLAINCLOTHESMAN WHAT TIME THE PEKING DELEGATION WAS EXPECTED . THE 
COP SHRUGGED AND SAID : " YOU NEVER KNOW WITH THEM 
. THEY ARE A VERY DISORGANIZED PEOPLE . WE WAITED FOR 
THEM YESTERDAY, AND THEY NEVER DID SHOW UP . " THE 
RED CHINESE DELEGATION APPARENTLY SPENT MOST OF ITS TIME DRIVING THROUGH 
THE LENIN HILLS SECTION OF THE CITY IN BLACK LIMOUSINES, SHUTTLING 
MYSTERIOUSLY FROM PEKING'S EMBASSY TO DOM PRIEMOV TO THE VILLA WHERE 
THEY LIVED . WESTERN NEWSMEN ONCE GLIMPSED TENG HSIAO-PING, THE LEADER 
OF PEKING'S GROUP, SERENELY STROLLING THROUGH THE VILLA'S GARDENS . THE 
ONLY SIGN OF LIFE BEHIND THE MASSIVE, CREAM-COLORED WALLS OF DOM 
PRIEMOV WERE THE BOOTS OF A SOVIET SOLDIER, WHICH PROTRUDED BENEATH 
THE SPIKED IRON GATES WHEN HE OPENED A PEEPHOLE TO SCRUTINIZE 
AN ARRIVING AUTOMOBILE . FOR THE FIRST TIME, RUSSIANS WERE WILLING 
TO TALK AND EVEN TO JOKE ABOUT THE SINO-SOVIET CONFLICT . 
ONE CRACK MAKING THE ROUNDS IN MOSCOW SUGGESTED THAT THE WAY 
TO SOLVE THE WHOLE THING WAS FOR MAO TSE-TUNG AND CHARLES 
DE GAULLE TO CONCLUDE AN ALLIANCE, THUS LETTING THE TWO TROUBLEMAKERS 
TAKE CARE OF EACH OTHER . ABSOLUTE EQUALITY . TRHOUGHOUT THE 
ON-AND-OFF MEETINGS, THE IDEOLOGICAL FIRE CONTINUED ABOVE THE HEADS OF THE 
DELEGATES . THE KREMLIN SPLASHED A POLICY STATEMENT ON THE FRONT 
PAGE OF PRAVDA THAT OMINOUSLY WARNED PEKING OF THE " DANGEROUS 
CONSEQUENCES " OF ITS POLICY . AS FOR NIKITA KHRUSHCHEV, HE 
CALLED OUT THE BRASS BANDS, HONOR GUARD AND TELEVISION CAMERAS TO 
WELCOME HUNGARY'S JANOS KADAR, WHO REPAID THE FLATTERY BY ONCE AGAIN 
BACKING MOSCOW'S LINE OF PEACEFUL COEXISTENCE . RED CHINA, WHOSE DELEGATION'S 
ARRIVAL IN MOSCOW WAS DOWNPLAYED BY THE SOVIET GOVERNMENT AND DELIBERATELY 
IGNORED BY THE SOVIET PRESS, FIRED ITS OWN VOLLEY OF INSULTS 
. FOR THE FIRST TIME, PEKING CLAIMED ABSOLUTE EQUALITY WITH THE 
COMMUNIST PARTY OF THE SOVIET UNION AND WARNED THE KREMLIN IN 
AN ELABORATE SIMILE : " NO GENUINE UNITY CAN BE ACHIEVED 
BY AN ATTITUDE THAT ALLOWS THE MAGISTRATE TO BURN DOWN HOUSES, 
WHILE FORBIDDING THE COMMON PEOPLE EVEN TO LIGHT THEIR LAMPS . 
" ALL THESE SINO-SOVIET EXCHANGES WERE CAREFULLY FRAMED TO PUT THE 
BLAME FOR THE SPLIT ON THE OTHER FELLOW . OBVIOUSLY THE 
CHINESE NEVER EXPECTED THE MOSCOW MEETING TO SUCCEED, INSISTED ON IT 
MERELY TO EMBARRASS THE SOVIETS . THE KREMLIN, IN TURN, COULD 
NOT AFFORD TO APPEAR INTRACTABLE . AT WEEK'S END THE PEKING 
PRESS SUGGESTED THAT PERHAPS A FEW OF THE SINO-SOVIET DIFFERENCES COULD 
BE SETTLED SOON, WHILE OTHERS COULD BE DEFERRED TILL LATER . 
THIS SIMPLY MEANT THAT THE CHINESE WERE READY TO PROLONG THE 
QUARREL INDEFINITELY . " IF THE DIFFERENCES CANNOT BE RESOLVED THIS 
YEAR, " SAID PEKING BLANDLY, " THEY CAN WAIT UNTIL NEXT 
YEAR . " THE RUSSIANS ARE LESS PATIENT . THEY SHOT 
BACK AN ANSWERING COMMUNIQUE WARNING PEKING THAT " THE IMMEDIATE FUTURE 
" WILL DECIDE WHETHER THE SPLIT WILL WIDEN . THEN MOSCOW 
GAVE THE RED CHINESE AND THE WEST A POINTED REMINDER . 
AFTER ALL, SAID THE SOVIETS, " WE HAVE A COMMON ENEMY 
. / 