Statesmen Seek Way To Peace

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31107, 9 July 1966, Page 15

Statesmen Seek Way To Peace

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright)

LONDON, July 8.

1 he growing war in Vietnam and the persistent quest for an elusive peace today commands the attention of leaders around the world, says United Press International.

As United States planes again struck oil depots on the edge of the North Vietnamese port of Haiphong and ground units swept the South Vietnamese countryside yesterday there were numerous developments.

The Indian Premier, I Mrs Indira Gandhi, called in New Delhi for the urgent convening of a peace conference. , She called on Britain and the Soviet Union as co-chairmen of the 1954 Geneva conference which ended the fighting against the French—to summon the new conference. “Of one thing I am certain. there must be an early and immediate turning away from war in Vietnam,” Mrs Gandhi said before leaving for Moscow to seek Soviet support for her appeal. In London, Mr Philip NoelBaker, a Labour member of Parliament and a Nobel peace prize winner, said he had private information that if the United States “pause” in the bombing of North Vietnam early in 1966 had continued, Ihe Hanoi Government would have been willing to negotiate for peace. Mr Noel-Baker refused to give the source of his information.

In London, the British Foreign Secretary, Mr Michael Stewart, announced that Mr Wilson would urge Russia to join Britain in a new Vietnam peace drive when he goes to Moscow on July 16. In Tokyo, the Japanese Prime Minister, Mr Eisaky Sato, urged the United States to “persevere in its efforts toward stability and peace in Vietnam.” Mr Sato’s remarks came after a 90-minute review of world problems with the visiting United States Secretary of State, Mr Dean Rusk.

In Bucharest, the seven Communist Warsaw Pact nations said in a declaration that they were willing to send “volunteers” to fight the Uni- ‘ ted States in Vietnam if I Hanoi asked for them. The * seven accused the United States of pursuing an aggres- 1 sive “bandit war” against the ] Vietnamese people and de- 1 manded an immediate end to i the bombing of the North and s the withdrawal of United I States troops from the South. In Geneva, the United ■ States Ambassador to the 1 United Nations, Mr Arthur I Goldberg, prepared to fly to Italy for a three-day visit. Mr • Goldberg was to meet the i Pope and the Italian Foreign 1 Minister, Mr Amintore Fan- i fani, who is president of the ; current United Nations Gen- i eral Assembly. i In London, the Australian 1 Prime Minister, Mr Harold Holt, expressed “bitter dis- ' appointment” over Mr Wil- I son's criticism of American ’

bombing of oil installations near Hanoi and Haiphong. In Kyoto, Japan, Mr Rusk offered an unmistakable warning to China. Any “insane” nuclear attack on an American ally in the region would bring retaliation “with whatever means would be required,' he said. There has, however, been no evidence to suggest that Peking may be contemplating such an attack, nor did Mr Rusk mention China by name. Not Unfavourable Mrs Gandhi said that copies of her radio appeal had been handed to the envoys of the United States, Russia, and North and South Vietnam. “Their reaction was not unfavourable,” she said. The Geneva chairmen should call for a conference instead of debating how the parties concerned could be brought to the conference table, Mrs Gandhi said. As soon as the meeting was I called,, “we would appeal for ian immediate ending of the I bombing in North Vietnam,” iMrs Gandhi said. Cessation of bombing I should be followed by a cease-fire on both sides, j The Internationa' Control Commission, of which India I is a member, would safeguard any arrangements for a standstill in the fighting until a peaceful solution is found, Mrs Gandhi said. She listed three steps for establishing peace in Vietnam: “Secure the withdrawal of all foreign forces from Vietnam and insulate that unhappy country from every

foreign interference so that the people of Vietnam can determine their own future free of external pressures. “Guarantee the integrity and independence of a ‘neutral Vietnam,’ Laos and Cambodia. “Underwrite a rehabilitation and development plan for all three States to repair the grim ravages of war." Wilson’s View Concluding the special House of Commons debate on the Vietnam war, Mr Wilson said Britain would study “with the utmost urgency” the new Indian bid to get Vietnam peace talks going. But he said: “It would seem the Indian Government wants a Vietnam cease-fire first. “I would not feel we ought to insist on a cease-fire as a pre-condition, although it would be preferable to have one.”