NIXON WARNS HANOI

Press, Volume CXIII, Issue 33189, 31 March 1973, Page 15

NIXON WARNS HANOI

. (N.Z.P.A.-Reuter —Copyright) t WASHINGTON, ‘ March 30. j, President Nixon will ® go to California today for talks with President Nguyen Van Thieu after 3 warning Hanoi again £ that it faces reprisals J unless it honours the t Vietnam peace settle- it ment. : \ I Mr Nixon, who will meet! 1 | President Thieu in San Cle- ] Imente on Monday and Tues-]’ I day, said that the United] -States had won peace with] |honour in Vietnam, but he]] j accused the North of not:; I complying with three import-1 ant provisions of the accord], signed on January 27. |‘ In a televised address last ] night, he said that the lead- ( ers of North Vietnam “should ] have no doubt as to the con- j sequences if they fail to com- ( I ply with the agreement.” I "His warning was couched in terms similar to one he issued on March 15, when he , I indicated that North Viet- ] Inam risked renewed Ameri- : ]can bombing if it continued to send arms and troops into South Vietnam in violation of . the cease-fire. Only hours after the re- ■ lease of the last American I prisoners in Indo-China and Hthe final United States mili-j itary disengagement from I Vietnam, the President said

that Hanoi had not honoured I terms for an accounting of ’ the missing in action, barring ] infiltration into the South, i and requiring withdrawal of i foreign troops from Laos and] Cambodia. ]' Mr Nixon and President i Thieu are expected to dis- : cuss the effect of the alleged North Vietnamese violations on the prospects for maintaining the cease-fire, condi-] tions which might lead the] United States to intervene! with force again if necessary ] to support Saigon and Ameri-1 can aid. for the reconstruc-] tion of the South. Mr Nixon injected his concern into a speech in which he imposed a ceiling on beef,] pork and lamb prices in the battle to cut soaring food] costs, said that the United: I States had achieved its goal] of preventing the imposition] by force of a Communist] Government in South Vietnam, and declared that cuts in his defence budget would destroy his bargaining strength with the Russians. “We can be proud of the fact we have achieved an agreement which provides peace with honour in Vietnam,” he said. Mr Nixon is believed ready to make a strong public commitment of economic and moral support for President Thieu next week and to repeat his pledge that the Saigon Government is the only legitimate Government in the ] South. Such a commitment is the principal goal of President Thieu’s visit to the United States, and Mr Nixon last night took another big step in endorsing the legitimacy of the Saigon Government and his suuport for its chief. He did this by attacking Americans who had been demanding a total United States withdrawal long before the cease-fire agreement was signed and had described President Thieu as a corrupt politician unworthy of Amerijean sacrifices in the war. I Mr Nixon praised the great I majority of Americans who,

he said, stood firm for peace with honour despite an unprecedented barrage of criticism from a small, but vocal] minority. ] “. . . The overwhelming] I majority stood firm against] those who advocated peace] at any price—even if the] price would have been defeat and humiliation for the] United States,” he said. ; ] Mr Nixon appealed for] I public support of his refusal ] jto bow to demands to cut his] ]SNZ6I,OOO million defence: {budget, saying that if he] I yielded, he would increase] the danger of war. j He would not reduce de-: ‘fence spending, or order uni,i lateral cuts in American I troop , strength in Europe be- : cause to do so would reduce lithe incentive for the RusI sians to reduce their own war i machine.