North Vietnam Refers To Chance Of Talks Again

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31580, 18 January 1968, Page 9

North Vietnam Refers To Chance Of Talks Again

(N.Z. Press Assn.—Copyright) WASHINGTON, Jan. 17. The United States declined to comment last night on statements from the North Vietnamese representative in Paris on the question of talks between Hanoi and Washington, the “New York Times” News Service reported. “We’d be interested in seeing a full report of his remarks," said Mr Robert McCloskey, the State Department spokesman last night. “Until then, we would have no com ment.” Privately, other officials suggested that, at first glance, the comments of Mr Mai Van 80, Hanoi’s representative in Paris, left unanswered several questions posed by American officials about a new pledge from North Vietnam to enter talks with Washington after American bombing of North Vietnam was halted. They noted that Mr Bo’s suggestion that talks could begin within “a suitable time” after the bombing halt was vague and still left open the opportunity for Hanoi to stall after the United States stopped bombing.

Mr Bo confirmed that the Foreign Minister, Mr Nguyen Duy Trinh, in his statement last December 29 had deliberately used the affirmative tense when he said that the Hanoi Government “will hold conversations with the United States on relevant problems” if there is first an unconditional cessation of American bombing and other acts of war against North Vietnam. In his previous statement on January 28,1967, Mr Trinh had used the conditional tense —“would enter conversations.” Mr Bo made yesterday declaration in an interview with a reporter for the Gov-ernment-controlled French radio and television network. But the editors of the French network, for reasons that were not known, decided against carrying the news tonight. A member of Mr Bo’s mission then telephoned news

agencies and released the statement to them. Paris diplomats specialising in Vietnamese affairs said Mr Bo’s statement appeared to be breaking new ground in answering some of the questions that were asked by President Johnson and Mr Rusk after Mr Trinh’s statement last month. Hanoi had never before indicated it would be willing to talk within “a suitable time” after cessation of bombing nor had it said that the level and the agenda of future talks were subject to agreement by the two sides, the specialists said. The specialists added that Mr Rusk had made it plain that he was geeking clarification from Hanoi on the time lag that would occur between cessation of bombing and the start of talks. He also had indicated that he wanted to know what issues the North

Vietnamese were willing to discuss. Independent observers are convinced that the Hanoi Government wanted to make its position known before President Johnson addressed the American nation today and committed himself to a Vietnam policy for the coming year.