Hanoi Denies Report Of Talks Offer By Ho

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30938, 20 December 1965, Page 17

Hanoi Denies Report Of Talks Offer By Ho

r.v Z.P.A. Reuter— Copyright) TOKYO, December 19. North Vietnam yesterday dashed hopes that a reported peace feeler from Hanoi could lead to negotiations on the Vietnam war. A terse two-paragraph said that news reports of statements by President Ho Chi Minh were “sheer groundless fabrication.”

The (North) Vietnam News Agency, monitored in Tokyo, followed up with a commentary saying the stories were part of the United States "peace hoax.”

The agency said it had been authorised to deny absolutely the reports. The agency's version of President Ho Chi Minh's remarks to two visiting Italians

omitted the assurance, reported by the Italian Foreign Minister, Mr Amintore Fanfani, that he was “prepared to go anywhere—to meet anyone."

President Ho met Professor Georgia La Pira and Professor Primicerio in Hanoi last month. Mr Fanfani wrote to President Johnson of the reported offer. Officials in Washington had feared premature disclosure of Mr Fanfani’s letter would provoke hasty North Vietnamese denials that negotiation feelers had been extended. The North Vietnamese agency commentary said it was well known that “each

- time the U.S. imperialists ■ jabbered about peaceful negot tiations, they intensified and > expanded the war in Vietnam “They clamour about unI conditional negotiations and : fabricate the story of a so--1 called probe about negotiation - on the part of the Governi ment of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam,” it said. s “This is precisely aimed at t covering up their new and i extremely dangerous steps in

their military adventure in Vietnam. Cool Reaction “But these allegations can fool nobody. On the contrary they expose further the aggressive and odious nature of the U.S. imperialists. . . .” In Washington the Johnson Administration reacted coldly, the Associated Press reported.

The White House press secretary, Mr Bill Moyers, said only: “I’ll let their statement speak for itself.” The State Department withheld any comment but officials made it clear the denial came as no surprise. One authoritative source said the Administration would have been surprised if such a denunciation bad not been forthcoming. The White House statement was issued after a conference between President Johnson and the Secretary of State, Mr Dean Rusk. The State Department earlier had released details of the reported offer after news of it was published in the St. Louis “Post Dispatch," United Press International reported. Observers said one underlying question to be examined was whether Hanoi privately was more willing for peace talks than China would publicly allow it. They believed that could explain the pattern of privately reported peace “hints” from Hanoi followed by public denials.

Remark Affirmed Other observers felt Hanoi leaders simply were not ready to talk peace and the reports of “peace feelers” were a combination of propaganda, deliberate confusion and, occasionally, misreporting by intermediaries. In Florence one of the two Italian professors affirmed President Ho’s reported remark, Reuter said. Professor La Pira, a Leftwing Christian Democrat politician, said President Ho had added that peace talks “pre-supposed a cease-fire, and could start immediately and therefore without the immediate withdrawal of the United States troops.” Professor La Pira said: “I confirm that I and Professor Primicerio, when we were received at the Presidential Palace in Hanoi on November 11, heard from President Ho Chi Minh’s own voice that he was disposed, for the good of his people, to go anywhere and to meet anyone to negotiate for peace.” Max Frankel, of the “New York Times” said there were indications that at least one message from Washington would be passed to Hanoi by Mr Fanfani. Mr Fanfani was expected to convey to Hanoi the reasons for Washington’s sudden publication of the reported offer. Some sources thought be may also suggest further contacts, if desired, through better-guarded diplomatic channels.