Laotian Talks Called

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30453, 29 May 1964, Page 16

Laotian Talks Called

f.V Z P. A.-Reuier—Copyright) LONDON, May 27. Britain yesterday formally invited the ambassadors of the nations which signed the 1962 Geneva agreement on Laos to join in consultations in Vientiane on the Laotian crisis. A State Department spokesman in Washington said the United States was prepared to go to the talks.

At the same time China 'ailed for a reconvening of f he 1962 14-Power Geneva con’erence on Laos at Foreign Minister level next month but said it should be held in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh.

Appeal Rejected China rejected last week’s British appeal to her to use her influence with the proCommunist Pathet Lao to halt its attacks in Central Laos.

Britain, in calling for consultations in Vientiane, the Laotian capital, is supporting an earlier proposal by Prince Souvanna Phourna, the Neutralist Prime Minister of Laos. Since then, France has proposed the holding of a fullscale conference on Laos and the Soviet Union has urged that such a conference should be held in Geneva next month.

The State Department spokesman in Washington said the United States believed that the whole Laotian problem could be solved through consultations in Vientiane without the necessity of another big Genevatype international conference. China outlined her position in two letters signed by the Foreign Minister (Marshal Chen Yi), released by the Foreign Ministry in Peking last night. One. addressed to all participants in the 1962 Geneva conference, said that in Laos “the danger of the outbreak of general civil war is now ‘touch and go’.” Souvanna Held The holding of a conference at Foreign Minister level was “imperative and urgent.” A second letter addressed to Mr R. A. Butler, the British Foreign Secretary, de-

dared that he “misreP"?.®"*' ed the uprising of the Neutralist troops in the pl ** n ... Jars as a military attack launched by the Pathet 1-ao tF The letter also said Prince Souvanna Phourna was s “held under duress by t ■ United States-backed Rightists.”