BAO DAI ADMINISTRATION FACES DIFFICULT CRISIS

Press, Volume LXXXVI, Issue 26125, 30 May 1950, Page 4

BAO DAI ADMINISTRATION FACES DIFFICULT CRISIS

INDO-CHINA

(Specially Written for “The Preu”) [By COLIN D. EDWARDS)

Singapore, May 20.—Indo-China is figuring prominently in the news these days. It is high on the agenda of the London talks between the British Foreign Minister (Mr Bevin), the French Foreign Minister (Mr Schuman), and the United States Secretary of State (Mr Dean Acheson).

As an outcome of the fact-finding tour of South-east Asia carried out by the Griffin Mission, the United States has appropriated 23,000.000 United States dollars to Indo-China in economic aid, 8.000.000 of which will be spent on improvements to agriculture and health services and the rehabilitation of areas that have been devastated by the war with Vietminh. A further undisclosed sum has been appropriated by the Congress for military supplies. This will come out of the fund for military aid expenditure in the general China area. A French military mission. headed by General Marcel Carpentier. Commander-in-Chief of French Forces in the Far East, is soon expected to arrive in Tokyo to wofk out details of this aid with General MacArthur’s staff.

What is the present situation in war-torn Indo-China?-

To begin with. the insurgent trouble is of an entirely different nature from that besetting Malaya. In Malaya, the Communists control and direct the terrorist organisation and most of their followers bow to the party line. In Indo-China. Ho Chi Min and his party form only the core of the opposition to the French and the French-sponsored Bao Dai administration. It is certain that only 15 per cent, of Ho Chi Min’s supporters are Communist. The other 85 per cent, are merely anti-French Vietnam nationalists who are backing Ho Chi Min as an expedient—an efficient leader who will help them rid their country of the French.

Improved French Military Position Militarily, the French position in Indo-China has improved considerably these last few months. Last October, French control of the country was confined to small areas around the main towns and ports, and to posts along the border with China. Two years ago. one could not go two kilometres outside Saigon without running into an ambush. To-day, it is possible to travel long distances in complete safety, for the French have re-established their authority over wide areas of the country.

Politically, however, there has been a dangerous deterioration, and it is that problem with which Washington and tne Foreign Ministers’ Conference in London are mainly concerned. The Bao Dai administration has failed to gain the amount of popular support that the French hoped it would when they handed over to it the reigns of power in Vietnam. Many Vietnammcse still think that their patriotism will best be served in the ranks of Ho Chi Min’s forces. They believe that once they have got rid of the French, they will be able to control Ho Chi Min and his Communists. Blind as this attitude is. many of Indo-China’s best patriots are persisting in it: and the Bao Dai administration is not able to play the powerful part it could under the terms of the new constitution. Consequent-

ly, the French are reluctant to transfer to Vietnam more authority than it has at present. The Vietnam Government has recently complained in private that the French Army is not giving it enough aid in controlling the country. lhe French reply was that the responsibility in the Vietnam areas (Vietnam is only one part of French Indo-China) now belongs to the Vietnam Government and that the French forces do not want to interfere with the sovereign authority of Vietnam in its internal affairs. The Vietnammese army at the moment consists of five battalions, comprised mainly of new recruits and ex-Vietnammese units of the French Colonial army, like the crack troops of the Annamite Fusiliers. The officers are both French and Vietnammese. One of the generals is a Vietnammese who held general's rank in the French Army. The plan is to bring the Vietnam Army up to 50.000 men. American military equipment would come in very handy in building up this force; but the French Army in Indo-China also has its eyes on these supplies, and that forms another bone or contention. Their forces, which amount to between 120.000 and 140 000 men. could use more weapons and fresh equipment. Manpower

As for manpower, Bao Dai can count on a lot of support from the rich delta area, “Le Plain de Tonkin." which is very loyal to him. In order not to lose the support of the intellectual and business people of the country to the Vietminh. he has avoided being ruthless with the rebels. He is afraid of earning the title, which the Communists naturally pin to him, of “French pawn.” His efforts to prove himself above all a Vietnam patriot have made his approach to the terrorist problem appear soft. This has brought him in for some severe criticism* from French quarters and has certainly encouraged the Vietminh, who fear the Vietnam Government far less than they did the old French-run administration. They have staged demonstrations and instigated minor riots in the heart of Saigon itself. French soldiers and officials and proFrench Vietnammese have fallen to assassins’ bullets and daggers in the city; but the Vietnam Government, fearful of offending its own people, is too wary to take strong action, especially when the trouble has been started by students. The French consider that Vietnam is now responsible for its own political stability as an independent republic within the French Union. Unfortunately. Vietnam is not militarily or psychologically competent to handle Ho Chi Min's Communists. If the French were to leave Indo-China now, the Communists would undoubtedly fill the political vacuum that would be left behind. If they did not succeed in taking over the whole country, they would at least ensure its becoming another Burma. It is to remedy this situation that Britain and the United States are putting their heads together with France. They must find a strong answer to the problem quickly if they are to prevent this vital, strategic area from falling behind the Iron Curtain or into complete chaos.