Vietnam Moves Assessed

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32076, 26 August 1969, Page 19

Vietnam Moves Assessed

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright) SAIGON, Aug. 25. The almost simultaneous announcement by President Nixon deferring further troop withdrawals from Vietnam, and the appointment of a “hawkish” general as Prime Minister of South Vietnam, have been seen in Saigon as decisive reaction to two weeks of intensified Viet Cong military activity in South Vietnam.

The two moves have been interpreted as a hardening of the position taken by Washington and Saigon in the face of deadlock on the battlefield and at the Paris peace talks. President Nguyen Van Thieu asked General Tran Thien Khiem, who is 43, to form a new Cabinet 24 hours after his predecessor, Mr Tran Van Huong, had agreed to step aside. The appointment of General Khiem, the powerful Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior, though widely predicted, came as a surprise to most Vietnamese, who preferred another civilian. There have been no indi-

cations yet of what progress the general had made to form a new government, which is expected to consist mainly of Right-wing politicians. Observers believe that while Mr Thieu appears to be forming an Administra-

tion strongly opposed to communism, he may also have a new peace initiative up his sleeve, if only as an international propaganda gesture. A spokesman for Mr Thieu’s newly-formed political alliance of six parties, the National Social Democratic Front has welcomed the decision to invite General Khiem to form a new government; but observers believe that whatever form the Government takes, Mr Thieu’s control of it will be paramount.

General Khiem has been Mr Thieu’s right-hand man ever since he was recalled from the Vietnamese Embassy in Taiwan in May, 1968, to give the Administration support after the Viet Cong’s devastating Tet offensive. If he succeeds in forming a government this will again put a triumvirate of military men in charge of South Vietnam’s affairs. Both President Thieu and Vice-President Nguyen Cao Ky held senior military ranks before taking office in October, 1967.