Halting Spread Of Communism In Asia

Press, Volume C, Issue 29537, 12 June 1961, Page 9

Halting Spread Of Communism In Asia

(NZ. Press Asaoetatum—CopvrigM)

WASHINGTON, June 11. Communism could be stopped in Asia if the United States worked intelligently and effectively with free Asian countries which were trying to raise their living standards, Mr Lyndon Johnson said. The United States Vice President, who recently returned from a tour of Asia, was speaking to a conference of news agency editors.

Mr Johnson said the United States was not going to surrender the free Asian nations without a fight. He outlined five steps which he said the United States must take to halt Communist advances in Asia. 1. American objective: should be clarified so that Asian nations knew that America did not seek them as satellites. 2. Asian defences must be strengthened. 3. The United States must help Asian nations raise their living standards. 4. Increased efforts must be made to ensure that U.S. aid went to people who needed it 5. "We must go directly to the people themselves and remove the image of America as a well-dressed official who whizzes through the streets in a

chrome-plated Cadillac to an air-conditioned palace to drink tea and make a deal.”