WAR IN INDO-CHINA

New Zealand Listener, Volume 30, Issue 773, 14 May 1954, Page 5

WAR IN INDO-CHINA

Sir,-Following the remarks of Mr. Cronin in Lookout, as reported in The Listener, I would like to mention a point that is obscured in almost all radio references to the war in Viet Nam. I refer to the status of the Vietminh forces under the leadership of Ho Chi Min. They are frequently referred to as "rebels." The term is used by people who must-or certainly. should-know better. . Dusing the Second World’ War, after the abdication of the French authorities in- Indo-China (Viet Nam), a national movement under Ho Chi Min, a Communist, reconquered most of the country from the Japanese. A Government was-7 established which was functioning efficiently when the French came on the scene again. This Government was recognised by the French Government in 1946 in ‘a formal agreement which was_ subsequently ratified. An election was held under conditions of universal and_ secret franchise and the Vietminh, or national patriotic party, was elected with a very substantial majority. This Government, which introduced many reforms, functioned for some months with French acquiescence and then a dispute broke out which led to the French bombarding a coastal town. From then the war spread. It must be remembered that the French established themselves in IndoChina, within the memory of men now living, by acts of aggression. They can only bolster up their own rule and that of the playboy Emperor Bao Dai, whom they brought back from the Paris nightclubs, by the use of North Africans, Senegalese and the ex-Nazi soldiers who form a ‘substantial part of their Foreign Legion. Without these mercenary troops, the Bao Dai regime would not last six weeks, This is not a matter in which New Zealand should interfere. Let us support the proposal for an immediate ceasefire and settlement hv neootiation.

SID

SCOTT

(Auckland)