‘Honest’ foreigners safe

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33817, 14 April 1975, Page 1

‘Honest’ foreigners safe

(From

DEREK ROUND,

NZ.P.A. staff correspondent.)

I SAIGON, April 13. : Foreigners like Dr Edric Baker of New Zealand who stayed behind in parts of South Vietnam now in the hands of the Provisional Revolutionary Government (P.R.G.) could continue with their work, a senior P.R.G. officer said in Saigon.

Colonel Vo Dong Giang, deputy chief of the P.R.G, military delegation in Saigon, said in an interview that the P.R.G.’s policy was to protect foreigners living in South Vietnam. He said the P.R.G. appreciated the work of foreigners who were contributing to the reconstruction of the country.

Dr Baker, son of the for-’ mer Government Statistician, Mr J. T. V. Baker, stayed at Kontum in the Central Highlands where he was working at the Minh Quy Hospital. Nothing has been heard of him since Kontum was taken over by the P.R.G. last month.

Colonel Giang said he had no information about Dr Baker.

“But if he was earning an honest living, he could continue working,” he said.

One of the colonel’s aides said foreigners were back at work in Ban Me Thuot, one of the cities now under P.R.G. control.

Colonel Giang, who fought against the French! and later against South Viet-1 namese Government and. United States forces in the; Central Highlands, said he! thought the local P.R.G J

administration w'ould consider individually each case of foreigners, like Dr Baker, who had elected to stay behind when South Vietnamese Government forces left.

“They will then tell them they can stay or ask them to leave,” he said.

‘HENCHMEN’ Colonel Giang said at a press conference the P.R.G. held in its compound at Tan Son Nhut airbase in Saigon that, in principle, the revolutionary Administration would punish only a small number of people who continued “to serve as henchmen of the United States and the Thieu clique.”

Asked if it was wise for foreign diplomats to send their wives and children out of Saigon, Colonel Giang said: “I would not like to concretely comment on that."

Asked if he thought the destruction of Saigon would be necessary, Colonel Giang said: "In the fighting, the liberation army always tries to restrict to the lowest level the losses that are likely.” Colonel Giang said there were 240 members of the P.R.G. military delegation and 50 members of the North Vietnamese military delegation at Tan Son Nhut in Saigon. UPRISING The “New York Times” news service reported that the delegation. exuding confidence and good humour, said that an uprising in Saigon — presumably meaning a huge Communist commando operation — was imI minent, unless President ; Thieu stepped down immediiately and the Americans left.