Canada’s Role In Vietnam

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31085, 14 June 1966, Page 8

Canada’s Role In Vietnam

Canada saw itself in Vietnam as a sound* ing board rather than as a mediator, said the Canadian High Commissioner (Mr K. J. Burbridge) in Christchurch yesterday.

Mr Burbridge said that although Canada had sent no combatant troops to South Vietnam, Canada’s military and civilian forces in Vietnam probably outnumbered those from New Zealand. They had been there for 12 years. “Indeed,” he said, “perhaps 20 per cent of our middle and senior diplomatic officers in the Canadian Foreign Service have served in Indo-China at one time or another. “In a word, we know the place almost too well. We have not sent combatant troops for reasons I will explain, but we have contributed a fair amount of aid to South Vietnam. For example, we are constructing a new science building in Hue where as you know, the South Viet-

nam Government is encountering considerable difficulties. “We have contributed over 1 million dollars in food in the last few years, we have made available 130 academic and technical scholarships, and we have provided a medical professor to a hospital in Saigon. “One major reason we have not sent combat troops, or even considered the question, is that Canada, with Poland and India, is a member of the International Commission established in 1954 to supervise the truce achieved at the Geneva Conference that year. “Active involvement in the conflict would make a mockery not only of our role on the commission but also of our suitability for the future as an international peace-keep-er in Vietnam if the need ever arose, and even more important, elsewhere in the world. “Another reason is that we regard our principle contribution to Western defence as being in Europe within N.A.T.O. and in North America in N.O.R.A.D. Canada has participated in all United Nattions peace-keeping operations which have taken place. “Because of our role tn Vietnam we have a representative in Hanoi as well as in Saigon and our work with the commission provides us with the opportunity to move from North to South at will. “The assessment which the Canadian Government has formed on this subject is based on a long record of firsthand Canadian experience. “We, of course, have for some time been aware that the Viet Cong are trained and equipped in North Vietnam and that numerous North Vietnamese regular units are involved in the Southern conflict. Some would have us condemn ail American and allied activity which is obvious, and ignore ail less obvious activity on the other side. We have refused to do this because we recognise a definite cause and effect factor in Vietnam. We are fully aware that the aggression is northern in origin. “Identifying the guilty party does not bring the war to an end. Something more is required to stop the shooting and start the talking. Rarely do major negotiations begin between countries without a minimum consensus on the pants at issue. In the case of Vietnam, the parties to the conflict are so far apart that simply bringing them to the conference table is unlikely to solve anything. Indeed, if effected prematurely it could do harm by giving support to those who argue that there is nothing to negotiate about.

“Without going into detail, I qan tell you that we are periodically discussing the points at issue with the leaders in Hanoi and with our South Vietnamese and American friends. Our Prime Minister recently sent an emissary to President Ho Chi Minh to carry the question further and I am happy to say that there is reason for guarded optimism. “We recognise that the task we have set ourselves of moving back and forth between the protagonists seeking flexibility, especially from Hanoi, may last a long time. Our efforts are going on just as vigorously in those capitals of Eastern Europe where we are represented as they are in Asia. We feel that this work no matter how frustrating it may appear at times, must be continued. “We see ourselves as a sounding-board rather than a mediator, and we hope that our efforts will eventually bring good results. We do not take the view that peace must be purchased at the price of South Vietnamese independence. We do, however, realise that a lasting settlement may involve a change in the kind of government South Vietnam at present has,” he said.