Rusk Says U.S. Would Consult Saigon On Peace

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31579, 17 January 1968, Page 15

Rusk Says U.S. Would Consult Saigon On Peace

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright) WASHINGTON, January 16. The Secretary of State, Mr Dean Rusk yesterday reaffirmed that the United States would take no decisions on peace negotiations without full consultation with South Vietnam and other countries.

His statement, issued to the Press by the State Department, came in the wake of complaints yesterday by President Nguyen Van Thieu of South Vietnam that the United States and other allies were taking away the initiative in seeking peace from his own Government.

nam’s latest offer to begin talks after a bombing halt “may take time.” At the week-end, the Senate majority leader, Senator Mike Mansfield, issued a new plea for halting the bombing of North Vietnam to see if Hanoi sincerely wanted talks. Mr Rusk’s statement was issued without comment by a department spokesman, Mr Robert McCloskey. It was believed that that statement

was designed to head off any Congressional criticism of apparent differences between Washington and Saigon. The spokesman said he had no comment on President Thleu’s speech in which he accused Saigon’s war allies of taking away the initiative and said that South Vietnam should play the central role in peace explorations. The secretary, in referring to the statement of December 30 by the North Vietnamese Foreign Minister, Mr Nguyen Duy Trinh, that talks “will” follow a United States bombing halt, said:— “ . ... There are aspects in these statements which appar-

ently require careful exploration and this process may take time.” (President Thieu’s views are on p. 12.)