Evening star., 1954-05-06
Craftsmanship Issue
Al Geneva Threatens
Delay on Indo-China
ey the Assoeioted Press

GENEVA, May east and
West were reported split. today
over the Craftsmanship of the
Indo- China sessions of the Ge-
neva Conference. There were
signs the negotiations to bring
peace in Indo- China may have
to be postponed until next week.
Delegates had hoped to open
the talks tomorrow or Saturday.
Wet Namese and Laotian dele
gates got in today. The rebel
Wet Mini contingent was al
ready on hand. But the hope
for quick action faded with the
lack of agreement on the chair
manship and the fact delegates
from Cambodia. partner of Wet
Nam and Laos in the Associated
States of Indo-Ch have not
arrived in Geneva.
And a Paris crisis over the
ndo-China war situation COM
peted for the attention of the
diplomats in Geneva. The fate
of Premier Joseph Laniel's gov
ernment was tied to a vote of
confidence in the French Ma
tional Assembly. Experts pre-
dicted that. after hours of de-
bate, Mr.. Laniel would win. For
eign Minister Georges Bidault
decided to stay on the job here,
rather than return to Paris per-
sonally to combat an outburst of
parliamentary criticism.
New French Instructions.
The French cabinet, meeting
in advance of the Assembly ses-
sion, drafted fresh instructions
for Mr.. Bidault on the Indo-
China negotiations and assigned
Marc Jacquet, minister for the
Associated States, to bear them
to Geneva. There was no hint
as to what the instructions were.
United States Undersecretary
Of State Walter Bedell Smith
received from British Foreign
Secretary Anthony Eden an &C
count of discussions Mr.. Eden
had with Soviet Foreign Minister
V. M. Molotov after a dinner
meeting at the Briton'S villa last
night.
An informed source said that
Mr.. Eden, acting on behalf of
the United States, France and
other interested countries. sug-
gested a Craftsmanship rotating
among Mr.. Bidault, Mr.. Eden
and Mr.. Molotov. While Mr..
Molotov did not Immediately re-
ject this suggestion, it was said
he Showed no great interest in it.
The informant said two other
proposals had previously run into
snarls: The Communists turned
down Prince Wan Waithayakon
of Thailand as sole chairman
and the French were understood
to have rejected continuance for
the Indo-China talks of the ar
rangement followed for the Ko-
rean debate-a chair rotating
among Prince Wan, Mr.. Eden
and Mr.. Molotov.
Wet Namese Arrive.
Wet Mans Deputy Premier
Nguyen Trung Vinh heads the
Wet Namese delegation which
arrived here today. He was &C
companied by Foreign Minister
Nguyen Quoc Dinh and Demo-
cratization Minister Nguyen
Dac Khe. Mr.. Khe promptly told
a news conference his govern
ment, headed by ex-Emperor
Bao Dai, twas not made to be-
tray the past. present and fu-
ture of the nation" and would
never accept partition.
Laos high commissioner to
Paris, Prince Khammao, got in
on the same train as the Wet
Namese. A dispatch from Saigon
said other members of the Lao
tian delegation, headed by Vice
Premier-Foreign Minister Phoui
Sananikone, left that city today
by air for Geneva.
The chief of the Cambodian
delegation will be Foreign Min
lister Tee Phan. Among its mem
bers will be Nong Kimmy, Cam
bodian Ambassador to WASH
ington. He is to arrive tomor-
row.
With Wet Nam taking a firm
position against division of
Indo-China into rival spheres of
influence, the French delegation
here was reported under great
pressure from home to get a
settlement. Mr.. Bidault, in a
ticklish situation, was said to be
resisting all suggestions for set
tlement terms than did not con-
tain guarantees against Com
muniSt duplicity.