'Little Sense Diplomatically'

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30782, 21 June 1965, Page 13

'Little Sense Diplomatically'

(N.Z. Press Assn. —Copyright?

the Labour Party, for which the timing is excellent. . . “In other words, the Commonwealth initiative should not be seen as a positive diplomatic advance aimed at producing peace aboard. It should be seen as a negative political retreat aimed at avoiding a war of words at home. . .” Worsthorne said that if Peking and Hanoi were to refuse to receive the delegation, Mr Wilson might succeed in his ploy to find a Vietnam policy which would do the least diplomatic harm to America while gaining maximum political relief at home since “all but the die-hard Com-

LONDON, June 20. From a diplomatic point of view the Commonwealth Prime Ministers’ proposed pilgrimage of peace for Vietnam made little sense, Peregrine Worsthorne said in the London “Sunday Telegraph” today.

The situation was quite different from that which produced a satisfactory conclusion of the Korean conflict he said. If Mr Wilson’s principal objective in launching his scheme had been to reach a peaceful settlement in Vietnam he would have delayed it at least until the monsoon period was over and the current crucial military phase determined one way or the other.

“Why then has Mr Wilson made the initiative now? The short, vulgar answer is that he has done so less to make peace in Vietnam, for which purpose the timing is absurd, and more to make peace in

North Vietnamese are in the wrong, and that the Americans really have no alternative but to continue with the war for the time being. “In other words, the best hope of this Wilsonian dove of peace ever reaching its goal is if it never takes wing in the first place. “But unfortunately, it cannot be assumed as certain that Peking and Hanoi will be foolish enough, from their point of view, to reject the mission out of hand. They may well be shrewd enough to appreciate the immensely attractive propaganda gains to be won from it. “The Wilson mission is so

munists might then be con- inherently bizarre and fanvinced that the Chinese and tastic, so ill-prepared and ill-

timed, that the rest of the world can be forgiven for assuming that the situation must indeed be apocalyptic if Britain, normally such a sensible and practical power, feels compelled to put forward so wild and woolly a solution. . .” Worsthome said that Dr. Nkrumah had already made it clear he basically supported the Communist line and thus to hold the delegation together Mr Wilson would have to edge just that bit further left than his own inclinations would lead him to do. “For, if the mission is seen to fail because Mr Wilson stands up firmly for the American position, the effect on Commonwealth unity and on his own political leadership in the Labour Party could well prove disastrous. “All his instinct must warn him that by trying to use the Commonwealth as a diplomatic instrument he is submiting the legend to an acid test which it is unlikely to survive; and that if it does survive, and the journey produces results, it is likely to be only at the expense of the Anglo-American alliance.” The “News of the World” said Mr Wilson and his colleagues were struggling this week-end to save the Commonwealth peace bid from shipwreck. “Now at issue is the future of the Commonwealth itself as a force in international affairs.” the newspaper said. “Everything turns on whether the African leaders, the temperamental President Nkrumah of Ghana in particular. rate the role of the Commonwealth higher in importance . than their personal parts in the Afro-Asian conference planned for Algiers next week. “President Nkrumah’s attack of doubt, after accepting a place in Mr Wilson’s mission, clearly arose from fear of being pilloried by China before his Afro-Asian colleagues as the dupe of Britain and the Western powers.