INDO-CHINA WAR

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27038, 13 May 1953, Page 9

INDO-CHINA WAR

Churchill’s View Of Problem

(Bee. 8 p.m.) LONDON, May 11. The military position of France must cause serious anxiety in the English-speaking world, said Sir Winston Churchill in his House of Commons speech today. This was not because of its effect in Europe, but rather because of its effect on the French position and policy in far-reaching regions they were seeking to defend. He believed that if the French brought their case in Indo-China before the United Nations a favourable vote could be found, but he also understood that the French Were reluctant to do so because thereafter their system in Indo-China would be brought under the continuous survey of the United Nations. As most members of the United Nations had no colonies they were apt to take rather a detached view of those who had, Sir Winston Churchill said. He considered that if France had the British system of military service, she would have much less difficulty in maintaining her positions in IndoChina and could also have developed a far stronger army for defence of her own soil in line with her allies. He said that the deterioration of the position in Indo-China had caused anxiety, and he was glad to see that it was less serious than had at one time been assumed.

In his opinion the sudden advance of the Vietminh elements should not be taken as a Soviet-inspired move inconsistent with the new attitude of the Soviet Government.

This might, unhappily, prove to be the case, but it might well have arisen from local circumstances and impulses, and from plans made many months before and now, perhaps, reversed. He warned against being over-hasty in forming conclusions in an adverse sense.

Seven Americans Released.—A party of seven Americans, repatriated from internment in Northern Korea through the good offices of Russia, arrived in Moscow toda.’. They will be flown to the United States. They are the third group released, the others being British and French.—Moscow, May 11.