TALKS SITE IMPASSE Third Party Might Be Called Upon

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31657, 18 April 1968, Page 9

TALKS SITE IMPASSE Third Party Might Be Called Upon

CN.Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copvriohtl

WASHINGTON, April 17.

Speculation is growing in Washington that a third party may have to intervene to end the apparent impasse between the United States and North Vietnam about the selection of a site for preliminary Vietnam peace talks. In official circles it is thought that it might be useful for someone not so far involved to lead the way to the kind of agreement which contacts between Washington and Hanoi have failed to produce. Some diplomatic observers believe the United Nations SecretaryGeneral (U Thant) is a logical possibility, but official sources, apart from acknowledging that a third party might be useful, have given no hint that any new moves are contemplated.

The United States Ambassador to the United Nations (Mr Arthur Goldberg) discussed Vietnam and a possible site for the talks with U Thant yesterday. The 75minute meeting was their first since U Thant returned last Friday from a visit to Europe which included conversations with Mai Van 80, Hanoi’s representative in Paris.

they should be held in a neutral capital where the atmosphere would be “fair to both sides.” In its present situation, the United States Administration is now searching for a formula to end the present deadlock before it runs into more trouble with the electorate. One formula under discussion is that Washington would agree to hold the preliminary talks in Warsaw, provided Hanoi would agree that any subsequent negotiations for a peace treaty should be held in Geneva.

arrived in Honolulu last night for talks with President Johnson, who met him at the airport. The two leaders conferred today on Vietnam and their mutual defence arrangements for South Korea. There are no outward signs that President Park does not support Mr Johnson’s present Vietnam peace initiative. United States officials in Honolulu discount speculation that the President might withdraw some of South Korea’s 47,000 troops from South Vietnam to build up his defences at home. Neither was it likely that Mr Johnson would make any specific requests for more South Korean troops at this time. The two leaders would, instead, be reviewing the whole situation in Vietnam. President Park was expected to express his Government’s feeling that the allies in Vietnam should not become trapped in prolonged negotiations with Hanoi while the fighting continues unabated, as happened on and off during the two years of bitter talks at Panmumjom. President Johnson yesterday spent more than three hours with his military commanders in the Pacific.

Failing that, there is always the possibility of Paris. Representatives of Hinoi are said to have been hinting at that, and Washington would probably agree. It would not like to rely on the tender mercies of President de Gaulle and the Paris press, but it cannot for much longer allow the issue of a site to hold up the peace talks. Meanwhile, President Chung Hee Park, of South Korea,

The United States is reluctant to accept North Vietnam's proposal that the talks should be held either in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh or in the Polish capital, Warsaw. The State Department says it is still waiting for Hanoi to reply to America’s suggestion that

Reports from Vietnam have suggested a recent lull in the ground fighting, and presumably the President heard in detail about this. However, no-one in the Administration appears to relate in any way the relative quiet on the battlefield to the peace talks negotiations. The President's meetings at the headquarters of Pacific Command brought him in touch with some of the officers who have been ardent advocates of the continued bombing of North Vietnam.