Vietnam War Spills To Neighbours

Press, Volume CV, Issue 30982, 11 February 1966, Page 11

Vietnam War Spills To Neighbours

' Press Association—i Copyright) WASHINGTON, February 10. . „ Like lax a from a live volcano, the fury of the war in v ietnam has been spilling over into neighbouring nations ever sinct it erupted, writes Donald May, of I nited Press International. As the conflict has widened, so has the involvement of 1 .aos. Cambodia, 1 haiJand. And the end is not in sight. I he role of these countries seldom has been publicly discussed because of diplomatic secrecv and Asian political sensibilities.

However, David Bell, ■ director of the Agency | for International De- ] velopment (A.1.D.), ] recently said for the ; record that North | Vietnam Communists • have given “clear and i open notice’’ they are ; ready to wage wars of ; liberation in Laos and . Thailand. “It already has started Inl Thailand,’’ he said Laos is the main infiltration | route from North to South | Vietnam. Without publicity, I its Ho Chi Minh trail has been | massively bombed by United! States planes. But the infil-| t ration continues and how to deal with it is a growing pro-! biem. Cambodia provides second ! ary infiltration channels. It; seems to have made the politi- ! cal assessment that the Viet! Cong will win and that China,; not the United States, will 1 dominate Asia. Thailand has made the oppo-; site bet. It has become al major base for United States military operations in the I area, and is itself a target of | Communist guerrillas. Here is the situation I country-by-country:— LAOS In many ways the centrepiece is Laos. It has its own. low-key war—a skirmishing I between Communist Pathet Lao forces and the Laotian Government. The Communists are aided by some 10,000 North Vietnamese troops. In June, 1961, President John F. Kennedy and the Soviet Premier, Mr Nikita S. Krushchev, agreed in Vienna to leave Laos out of the cold war.

Accords were signed in Geneva in July, 1962, requiring removal of all foreign forces. United States military staff left Laos, but the North Vietnamese never did The Communists have never made a major try to gobble up all of Laos. They hold its eastern and economically undesirable half. But this provides the corridor to South Vietnam. It is assumed that the main Communist military objective in Laos has simply been to keep the supply route open The Laotian Premier, Souvanna Phouma, is a dedicated neutralist who wants to stay out of a big war. He has said: “When the elephants fight the grass is trampled." For a neutral, however, he has become increasingly outsooken against Hanoi's aid to the Pathet Lao and use of Laos as a corridor. Though it must have come hard, he asked for United States assistance in the form of military equipment and aerial reconnaissance.

He apparently acquiesced in the United States bombing of Laos supply routes on condition it not he made public. These flights, plus the Laotian Air Force’s own missions using converted training planes, have pulverised the visible parts of the Ho Chi Minh Trail—the junctions and bridges. But the infiltration goes on through the jungle by night, largely immune from bombing.

Recently Moscow and Peking radios have accused the United States of planning to put ground troops across the narrow panhandle of Laos to cut the Ho Chi Minh trail. There is no doubt United States strategists have thought of this. But Souvanna has not wanted United States troops.

On purely military grounds the idea is open to debate. Large forces would be needed. The possibility of a massively expanded North

i Vietnamese invasion of Laos ! would have to be weighed. I Whet the United States I roving Ambassador, Mr ! Avereli Harriman, stopped in ! Vientiane to see Souvanna on January 13 during the ' peace initiative, a com- : munique vtgs issued, the main i paragraph of which said: | “Contrary to the speculations ■ to which certain sectors of the ! press have atached consideri able import|nce, Mr Harri- : man pointed out that the ! United Stateshas no intention ! of sending tn»ops to Laos in order to use hat country as ! a base for stacking North I Vietnam.” CAMBODIA | Cambodia is at odds with] I most of its neighbours. It and Thailand Have accused ] each other recency of border “invasions.” Cambodia has a running border dispute with South • Vietnam. It broke relations with the United States in al s huff last May. I Its leader, Prince Norodom; I Sihanouk, has publicly -explained his philosophy 1

thus: “If we continue to quarrel with the Americans, we will continue to enjoy security. China told us frankly that if we change our attitude towards the Americans, China will change its attitude toward us.” The United States is convinced that some of the infiltration southward through Laos continues into Cambodia and then enters South Vietnam. Some prisoners captured in South Vietnam said they took, this route. Allied forces say the Viet Cong have used the Cambodian border as a refuge from pursuit. Washington believes that supplies entering Cambodia by sea have found their way to the Viet Cong. Long before there was a Vietnam war there was major smuggling in this area. Sihanouk’s response is to flatly deny it all. He said recently: “There have been absolutely no Viet Cong and I Viet Minh in Cambodia.” He has offered to back up his statement, to have the four-man International Control Commission, which has never been effective in Southeast Asia, expanded to inspect Cambodia. THAILAND Thailand has involved itself with the American military effort more extensively than any Asian nation cares to admit. President Kennedy sent 5000 United States troops to Thailand in May, 1962, when a Laotian Communist offensive moved to the Thai border. They were withdrawn] the following July. But the manoeuvre revealed logistic problems which promoted a major United States building programme in Thailand in case it should have to be repeated. Roads have been built, harbour facilities and airfields improved. Now there are said to be 13,000 United States servicemen in Thailand. It has been reported—though never officially—that [ United States bombing missions over North Vietnam started from Thai airfields. The Thais also give assistance in Laos, which neither they nor the Laotians discuss. North-east Thailand has been the scene of what looks like the same kind of beginning the Communist movement had in Vietnam in the 19505, A local “independence movement” and “patriotic front” have been formed. Incidents of terrorism have increased. Last December Thai military forces began a police action in the area. They have captured some Laotians and Vietnamese Communists in the process.