Paris talks report

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33093, 7 December 1972, Page 17

Paris talks report

(H.Z. Press Assn.—Copyright) WASHINGTON, Dec. 6. The “secret” talks in Paris on Monday between President Nixon’s special advisor, Dr Henry Kissinger, and the principal North Vietnamese negotiator, Mr Le Due Tho, were centred on the problem of whether Hanoi intends to disperse some of its troops among Viet Cong units after a cease-fire, the “New York Times” reports.

Quoting well-placed Government spokesmen, the newspaper says that United States intelligence services in Vietnam had reported the existence of such a plan. They said that the majority of Hanoi’s regular troops in the South — an estimated 145,000 men — would transform themselves after a cease-fire into “volunteers,” and join Viet Cong units. The “very reliable” sources auoted by the “New York Times” also said that Dr Kissinger raised other problems, also based on intelligence reoorts: for instance, that for the first two or three years after a peace agreement, Hanoi’s chief strategy would be to conduct a wave of terror involving the assassination of Saigon Government officials.