Nehru Reports Indian Accord With U.S.

Press, Volume XCIV, Issue 28157, 21 December 1956, Page 13

Nehru Reports Indian Accord With U.S.

(Rec. 10 p.m.) WASHINGTON, December 19.

The Indian Prime Minister (Mr Nehru) wound up his private talks with President Eisenhower today. He told re•porters: “I think India and America will get along very well in the future in international affairs.”

Mr Nehru said his talks with Mr Eisenhower at the President’s farm near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, had revealed that United States foreign policy was not as rigid as he had thought. Asked if he believed the talks would contribute to world peace, Mr Nehru said: “I certainly do.” Mr Nehru disclosed that Communist China was one of the topics discussed, but he said he had not delivered any formal message from Mr Chou En-lai, the Prime Minister of Communist China. He said Mr Chou, with whom he had talked recently, thought Communist China had “gone several steps forward” towards improving relations with the United States while the United States had made no comparable moves. Mr Nehru said that the Soviet Union

and the United States seemed to be "remarkably near” agreement on world disarmament. He said he was confident their differences could be worked out.

Referring to Hungary, Mr Nehru said there was no question of India refusing to condemn what had happened there. The point was whether people should satisfy themselves by strong condemnations or by some constructive approach to the problem.

Asked whether he considered the Soviet Union to be a colonial Power, Mr Nehru said the answer depended on what meaning one attached to the word "colonial.”

“The word ‘colonial’ has a certain meaning that does not apply in that context,” he said. "But if one used the word in the sense of exercising a dominating influence, the answer was —yes, the Soviet Union did.” Mr Nehru specifically said that this was true in the case of Hungary.

Asked why he believed Communist China should be admitted to the United Nations, Mr Nehru said there was in fact only one China. The Governments at Peking and on Formosa both claimed to be “the real article.”

“I do not think that in the circumstances of today the two can continue,” he said. "To call the Formosan Gov e nmcnt China was stretching language.” Mr Nehru said in another reply that he d!d not consider that the Soviet Urvn-? a Communist China formed a single bloc. India wanted to see the Suez Canal cleared as quickly as possible, he added. In the future a new convention should be drawn to govern the free use of the canal, he added.

He believed that the many changes in the Soviet Union since the death of Stalin had been in the right direction. In his view, these changes were fundamental and they would not be reversed by the Kremlin leaders. He described the changes as moves towards "derhocratisation and liberalisation.”

"The post-Stalin policy cannot be suppressed,” Mr Nehru added. "It can only be delayed or obstructed.”