FRENCH INDEPENDENCE

Greymouth Evening Star, 11 December 1945, Page 6

FRENCH INDEPENDENCE

DE GAULLE’S BROADCAST .ALLIANCE WITH BRITAIN (Rec. 1 p.m.) PARIS, December 10. General de Gaulle, in .a broadcast, stressed the necessity of maintaining French independence .“between two very great Powers.” Without directly mentioning the Moscow conference he expressed regret that these two great Powers agreed to keep France in the background. . Reuter’s Paris correspondent says: The speech is interpreted as a clear indication that the French Government’s policy is based on avoidance of becoming involved in possible Russian-American differences. De Gaulle studiously avoided placing Britain on either side of the balance, thereby, it is believed, leaving the door open for any Anglo-French alliance arrangement without upsetting the position of independence with regard to Russia and America. FRENCH & RHINELAND. PARIS, December 9. The French Government, on the eve of the Moscow conference of Foreign Ministers, is launching a national campaign for the internationalisation of the Ruhr and the separation of tfie west bank of the Rhine from the control of any German central Government. The Socialist Minister of the Interior (M. Tixier) said that the Government was absolutely resolved to obtain the disarmament of Germany and the control of all German means of production that might be transformed into instruments of aggression. The Minister of Justice (M. Tietgen) said that it was impossible for France to accept the establishment of a Central German Government until the internationalisation of the Ruhr had been settled. The Foreign Minister <M. Bidault) said that if the Ruhr and the Rhineland remained under German control, a new Reich would inevitably arise, with consequent dangers to the world. FOUR-POWER ADMINISTRATION LONDON, December 10. “The British Government disagrees with the American suggestion that if France refuses to approve of the creation of a Central German administration in Berlin, such an administration should be established for the British, American and Russian zones,” says the diplomatic correspondent of the “Daily Herald.” The correspondent quotes Mr. John Hyncl, who is Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister responsible for German and Austrian affairs, as saying: “The British Government does not intend to accept the position of three parties only. We want to maintain four-Power agreement on every matter.”