Spread Of War Foreseen

Press, Volume CV, Issue 30981, 10 February 1966, Page 13

Spread Of War Foreseen

<N.Z. Press Association—Copyright)

WASHINGTON, February 9. A former high military planner, General James Gavin, has warned that a vast expansion of the United States troop commitment in Vietnam would probably lead to new Communist assaults in Korea.

Testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the retired general said that this would be the outcome if the United States boosted its troop strength in Vietnam to about 750,000 men. “If we got that involved,” he said, “the Chinese would surely open up in Korea.” General Gavin, a former chief of plans and operations,

was testifying in the committee inquiry on the Vietnam war. He made his statement after a Republican Senator, Mr Clifford Case, said that the South Vietnamese Government apparently wanted a United States troop build-up to 650,000 men. The present figure is just over 200,000. General Gavin said that as the matter now stood he expected the Vietnamese conflict to spread to Thailand. “Since the initiative is not ours, I think we will end up fighting in other areas besides Vietnam. The most decisive fight will take place in Thailand,” he said.