Evening star., 1958-07-13

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Jared considerably better. Both
countries had made their transl-
tion 10 fun independence without
ever breaking on their good re-
lations with France. while ct the
same time receiving q generous
amount OF American aid TO sup
port their armed forces and their
weak economies. The Kingdom Of
Cambodia. for q while-at least
In American eyes-was treading
on dangerous ground. It's political
leader, Prince Norodom Sihanouk.
went on personal voyages Of in
formation not only to such pro-
Western countries as the Philip
pines, but also to Red China,
where he was. Of course, duly
''lionized." But all fears Of his
being "duped" eventually proved
totally unfounded.
Today, Cambodia Is in the
curious position Of being the re-
cipient Of American aid, French
aid, Red Chinese aid and Russian
aid. This system Of competitive
aid" has worked not too badly.
The American aid mission in
Cambodia is well-liked and. faced
with Communist competition in
practically its own front yard,
keeps on its toes.
Strongly united behind Prince
Sihanouk and their King, the
Cambodians are a happy and
friendly people, and constitute
one of the brighter spots of the
Asian scene In 1868.
Laos, in 1858, is country on
the razor's edge. The Laotians
have, in fact, undertaken a daring
experiment. They have reunited
the Communist and on-Commu-
mist zones of their country under
one single non-C Communist gov
ernment, and they have done this
according to recipe from which
the West has usually shied away
in dealing with the questions Of
Germany, Korea and Viet-Nam,
While we would usually think
such B reunification on the basis
of holding popular elections first.
and reunifying the zones after
wards, the LaotianS reversed the
process; they reunited the two
zones first. and held their elec-
tions later on, on May s. 1858.
But the Laotians have learned
their lesson. The government Of
Prince Souvanna Phouma now
plans energetic measures to con-
tain further Communist inroads
into the administration of the
country. Two of the major Ma
tionalist groups have decided to
merge into a single Rally Of the
Lao People, and Western-trained
young civil servants and army Of
f1cers set up a committee to fur
ther unity all Lao nationalists
against the Communist threat.
In the field Of economics, Laos
has often been criticized for the
way it handled its foreign aid.
Not a 'SeII-ouf
This, then, is Indo-C China four
years after the Geneva cease-flre.
Much has been said about the
cease-f1re itself-that it was a de-
feat for the West, a ''sell-out." The
brutal fact is. as the two maps
show, that there was little choice
short Of a knock down, drag-out.
war in which the United States
would have been involved under
conditions far less favorable than
the Korean war, from which it
had extricated itself through a
cease-flre barely one year earlier,
in July 1858.
Communism, which at the time
Of the cease-fire controlled nearly
two-thirds of the area, now is
pushed back into the well-def1ned
borders Of North Viet-Nam. There
are no legal Communist parties in
Cambodia, Laos. and South Wet
Nam and all three countries are
wide awake to the threat in its
many forms, and are protected by
an umbrella clause" (Which gives
them a guarantee of assistance
without their being actual mem
bers) of the SEATO Pact from out
right Communist aggression.