MAJOR DRIVE EXPECTED

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27569, 11 December 1950, Page 5

MAJOR DRIVE EXPECTED

Chinese Communists In Indo-China FRENCH APPEAL FOR AID NZPA—Copyright WASHINGTON, Dec. 8. The French military authorities have informed American defence officials that they expect a major drive by Chinese Communist forces, against Indo-China before the middle of February, says Reuter. It is learned that President Truman and Mr Attlee in their talks have reviewed the possibility of such an attack along with a Chinese Communist threat to Hongkong and Malaya. It is known that the French have appealed urgently for increased aid to Indo-China, , President Truman and Mr Attlee may have agreed upon measures to meet this new threat, but their representatives refused to discuss such measures on the ground that it was foolish to tell the Chinese Communists through the press what Britain and the United States proposed to do in the military field. The indication of full-scale. Chinese Communist intervention in the IndoChina fighting is regarded by many as paralleling the preparatory indications which preceded the full-scale Chinese Communist intervention in the Korean war.

The view of military experts here is that the French forces in Indo-China have somewhat less chances than General MacArthur’s forces in Korea of holding against a Chinese Communist dssault and that further French withdrawals in Indo-China may be inevitable.