FOREIGN RELATIONS: Across the Sham Chun

Along the South China coast last week, the rainy season was in full downpour.

The Sham Chun River, which divides Communist and British territory at the edge of Hong Kong, was running bank full. One afternoon, four U.S. Air Force officers sloshed through the muddy approach on the Communist side of the Sham Chun, splashed across the puddles on the bridge at Lo Wu and stepped into freedom. Among the first to greet them was Father Ambrosio Poletti, a Roman Catholic missionary based in Hong Kong, who offered them a pack of Lucky...