Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1963-09-16

III Tile uBtlL VI ulOTS re-
cent statements, the Ameri-
can reaction seems q bit sur
prising. President Kennedy
himself, in q slightly diff
ferent context, recently has
voiced the wishful thought
that someday Wet Nam may
be free and secure, and that
Americans there can go
home again.
Certainly there are few
who would aruge that the
present situation In Wet
Nam should be prolonged
indefinitely, or that a solu-
ton based on military
strength alone is likely to
solve the problems Of
Southeast Asia.
And so the real question
is whether Gen. de Gaulle
was in fact right or wrong in
throwing out the idea of a
neutralized and neutral Wet
Nam which would no longer
be the cockpit for great
power rivalries.
United Country Paramount
Quite obviously. the all
important condition Of his
suggested solution Is that
the country be united under
a single government, and
that both Chinese and Amer
lean pressure be withdrawn
from the area. s,ze
Admirable as this concept
may be, it strikes many OBJ
servers as wildly impractical
and therefore most un-
helpful.
To some it appears that
Gen. de Gaulle is really pro-
posing nothing less than an
other sellout to communism
and the beginning of q
domino-style collapse of the
whole Of Southeast Asia.
II Gen. de Gaulle's hopes
are taken as an immediate
plan for action, the skeptics
are undoubtedly right. 1t a
question Of where sights are
aimed. And as usual with
the General. they are aimed
far above and beyond the
immediate problem or the
immediate possibility.
What Gen. de Gaulle is
proposing in Wet Nam is not
for tomorrow.
What he has in mind Is a
solution along the same lines
that was hopefully achieved
in Laos. ~.
To achieve 1t in. Wet Nam
would require the consent
and cooperation of all of the
great powers interested in
the area. 1t also requires
radical changes in the stu
alton within Wet Nam itself.
This may be. dismissed out
OF hand by some as fantastic
ally optimistic. Others may
point accusingly to the situa-
ton In Laos where despite
the solemn agreement of IA
nations at Geneva three
years ago the situation is
still highly precarious and
the struggle against a Com
munist takeover CONTINUES
undated.
One man who is not SCOT
fling at Gen de Gaulle's sug-
gestion. however, is the man
most intimately involved in
this struggle in Laos.
In a speech in Paris Fri
day. Prince Souvanna
Phouma, the country's neu-
tralist Prime Minister, warm
ly welcomed the French sug-
gestion for Wet Nam.
"The non-reunification OF
Wet Nam is responsible for
all the difficulties in Laos, "
he declared bluntly. I'VE
want nothing more than to
see Wet Nam live unified and
In peace. II might have been
done in 1854 when the agree
ment was reached on divid-
ing the country between the
Communist north and the
nom Communist south, but in
1854 the Americans we're not
prepared TO accept even the
neutralit" Of Laos"
Same Solution Implied
The speaker might have
pointed out that the French,
along with the British, long
argued the case for a neu-
tralized Laos.
E The Kennedy administra-
ton finally bought the idea
after millions OF dollars and
J many lives had been spent
in a futile military effort to