ATTLEE PLAN FOR FORMOSA

Press, Volume XCI, Issue 27592, 24 February 1955, Page 13

ATTLEE PLAN FOR FORMOSA

Comment On Party

Division

(Rec. 11 p.m.) LEYDEN (Holland), February 22. Mr Attlee, the British Labour Party leader told a press conference in Leyden today that he thought the division in his party over Formosa was being healed.

Answeririg questions he said he had put his new Formosa proposals to a number of people “but nobody has accepted them so far.” These proposals suggest the exiling of Marshal Chiang Kai-shek, the placing of Formosa under some form of international trusteeship, and allowing the Formosans to decide by plebiscite whether they wish to belong to Communist China.

Asked whether he thought a conference on the future of Formosa would be more likely to succeed if| organised outside rather than inside the United Nations he said: “It would probably have a better chance outside.”

“There is always a certain difficulty in getting the Chinese into a meeting under the aegis of the United Nations.”

He was in favour of Britain manufacturing the H-bomb “because we cannot leave the country defenceless.” He called German reunification desirable, but blamed the Russians for the division of Germany. Asked how he felt about the Russian warning that talks after ratification of the Paris Agreements would be useless, Mr Attlee said: “They always say that sort of thing.” He did not agree that such negotiations were foredoomed to failure.