War Could Engulf Asian Mainland"

Press, Volume CV, Issue 30954, 10 January 1966, Page 11

War Could Engulf Asian Mainland"

(N.Z.P.A. Reuter—Copyright)

LONDON, January 9.

A warning that the Vietnam war, if continued, could engulf the whole of the Asian mainland has been made in a report by Senator Mike Mansfield on his recent world tour.

The Senator, who returned from his 30,000mile trip to 13 countries before the present United States peace effort began, also said that the present situation offered only a very slim prospect of settlement by negotiations.

“A rapid solution to the conflict in Vietnam is not an immediate prospect,” his report to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said. “This would appear to be the case, whether military victory is pursued or negotiations do, in fact, materialise.” The report said that from talks in Moscow it was concluded that “there is no reason to believe that the Soviet Union, in present circumstances, sees its way clear or, in fact, is anxious to play a significant role to assist in bringing an end to hostilities in Vietnam.”

But, on the other hand. Poland and Rumania, which both had substantial interests in trade with the United States, might well make a contribution within the limit of their possibilities. The report did not make any specific recommendations about future United States policy in Vietnam. It noted that the rapid build-up of American forces so far “has blunted, but not turned back, the drive of the Viet Cong.” But it said it was doubtful that the Saigon Government could maintain the present military situation without a further increase of American forces on the ground. “Indeed, if present trends continue, there is no assurance as to what ultimate increase in American military commitment will be required before the conflict is terminated,” the report said. “Open-ended”

The military situation was "open-ended,” it added. “How open is dependent on the extent to which North Vietnam and its supporters are willing and able to meet increased force by increased force. “All of mainland South-east Asia, at least, cannot be ruled out as a potential battlefield.” Later the report said that “the situation, as it now appears, offers only the very slim prospect of a just settlement by negotiations or the alternative prospect of a continuance of the conflict in the direction of a- general war on the Asian mainland.”

As the war grew, the report said, North Vietnam became ever more dependent on Chinese support—a support the Soviet Union could not match.

It said that if there were negotiations now, accompanied by a cease-fire, they would serve “to stabilise a situation in which the majority of the population re-

mains under nominal Government control but in which dominance of the countryside rests largely in the hands of the Viet Cong.” The report warned strongly that, as American military

participation in the war increased, it was more and more difficult to maintain the concept that the United States was merely supporting the efforts of the South Vietnamese.