More Sites Offered By Impatient Rusk

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31659, 20 April 1968, Page 13

More Sites Offered By Impatient Rusk

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) WASHINGTON, April 19. The United States last evening proposed 10 more possible sites for initial peace contacts with North Vietnam, and said that it was time for a serious and responsive answer from Hanoi. The Secretary of State, Mr Dean Rusk, called a special conference to name the 10 places, and said he wanted a prompt decision from North Vietnam.

It was 18 days since President Johnson showed restraint by restricting United States bombing raids over North Vietnam, said Mr Rusk. “Our restraint was meant to inspire discussions about ending this war—not to provide an excuse for propaganda warfare while the battle raged on.” America has objected to Hanoi's proposal for first contacts in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh or in Warsaw. Cambodia has no United States Embassy, and Warsaw is a Communist capital. Initially, the United States counter-proposed either India. Burma, Laos, Indonesia or Switzerland. Mr Rusk last night added Ceylon, Japan, Afghanistan. Pakistan, Nepal, Malaysia, Italy. Belgium. Finland and Austria to the fast-growing list of prospective sites. France Missing France, reportedly among sites favoured by U Thant was missing from the list. There was no explanation for this, but relations between France and the United States are strained because of President de Gaulle's criticisms of American policy in Vietnam and elsewhere. Mr Rusk repeated the American position that talks should be held in a setting .“fair in terms of communica- : tions, fair in terms of access by the world’s press, fair in the very atmosphere surrounding the talks.” There was no immediate comment from the State Department on suggestions that Nepal and Afghanistan hardly provided good communications or easy access for the press: and that Japan, Italy, and Belgium all United States allies—were not likely to be viewed as neutral by the North Vietnamese. Hanoi today again charged the United States with deliberately delaying preliminary contacts for peace talks. The official. newspaper “Nhan Dan,” quoted by the North Vietnamese News Agency, accused Mr Rusk of trying to push the blame for the delay on to North Vietnam, The newspaper said: “For a fortnight now world public opinion has been criticising the lack of good will on the part of the United States.” It listed three points showing this “lack of good will.” Washington had gone back on its word, repeated again and again, that it was ready

to go anywhere at any time for talks. The United States had found “unjustifiable and untenable reasons” to reject Phnom Penh and Warsaw, suggested as suitable sites for talks by Hanoi. The United States had set another condition for the contact talks by urging that its ’Vietnam allies, including the Saigon Government, take part. Pakistan Offer Pakistan announced it was offering itself as a talks site in response to a request from the United States—the first time Washington had suggested the talks be held in Pakistan. The French Foreign Minister, Mr Maurice Couve de Murville, proposed Paris as a site in testimony yesterday before the French National Assembly’s foreign affairs committee. He said that France had taken no initiative in the matter. The French Cabinet had said that neither Hanoi nor Washington had approached it on the matter of using Paris as a site for the talks. In Washington, the Senate Democratic leader, Senator Mike Mansfield, said that “if we quibble too long” over the site, the opportunity to begin Vietnam peace negotiations might be lost. “Any Spot” Mr Rusk’s statement, in addition to offering new sites, included another American effort to justify conditions imposed by the Administration in backing away from President’s Johnson's San Antonio pledge to send a representative to “any spot on earth.” Mr Rusk said the United States had not recommended meeting in Washington. Korea

or Australia and by the same token, could not accept a site such as Moscow, Peking or Hanoi. The United Nations announced yesterday that U Thant would stop in Paris on Saturday on his way to Teheran, and caused speculation that he would again contact Mr Mai Van 80, North Vietnam's chief representative in the West. U Thant discussed possible sites for preliminary peace talks between the United States and North Vietnam with Mr Bo in Paris last week. The Malaysian Prime Minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman, today promised to ensure that the talks would be held in an atmosphere free of partisanship if Malaysia was selected as the site. “It would be a great honour to Malaysia if she is indeed chosen to be the venue for the talks,” the Tunku said. Soviet View The Soviet Premier, Mr Kosygin, said last night that North Vietnam was not a defeated country and would not conduct peace talks as though it were vanquished. Interviewed over Pakistani television by Pakistani journalists on the second day of his four-day visit to the country, he said that the Vietnam war. Israeli aggression, and the European policies of the West German Government were the prime causes of world tension. Russia favoured a settlement between the combatants which would ensure the development of Vietnam without outside interference, he said. Mr Kosygin linked the problems of sterling and the dollar to the Vietnam war and said: “The laws of economy will never forgive anyone who spends s3oom on war when he does not have them to spend.”