“RUSSIA IN NO HURRY”

Greymouth Evening Star, 23 April 1946, Page 7

“RUSSIA IN NO HURRY”

TRADE PACTS INSTEAD OF PEACE TREATIES AMERICA MAY CHANGE POLICY NEW YORK, April 20. The United States is considering a trade pact between Italy and America as a possible substitute for the Big Four peace treaty with Rome, says the Washington correspondent of the New' York Herald-Tribune. This pact, which would serve as a de facto peace treaty, is being discussed because of a prevailing fear that it will be extremely difficult for France, Britain, and America to agree with Russia on the projected Italian treaty at this late hour. A major trade agreement would take added significance if the Big Four approve the American proposal for a revised and modernised armistice, the assumption being of course that the Foreign Ministers in conference in Paris will fail to agree, and will adjourn the European peace conference indefinitely. Diplomatic circles see in this manoeuvre the American adoption of the Soviet method of circumventing peace treaties. The Balkan trade pacts which Russia is seeking are clearly de facto peace treaties, because they settle many internal problems and enable Russia to continue the occupation of these areas.

America is believed to feel that Russia is in no hurry to conclude peace treaties with Italy, Rumania, Bulgaria, Finland and Hungary, all of which are on the agenda for the Paris conference.

A de facto treaty, however, would have many disadvantages for America. It would mean that American occupation troops could not be withdrawn early from Italy, because it is feared that any withdrawal before the Big Four treaty with Italy might cause 50,000 Jugoslav troops stationed on the border* between Italy and Jugoslavia to march into Trieste and settle that boundary dispute' by force.