DISUNITED INACTION?
vvHAT is the exact purpose of the complaints in the British Press that Mr. Dulles is seeking, too deter- minedly and too urgently, united action among the Western Powers in the question of Indo-China ? What do they want, the Washington Correspondent of The Tinzes and the rest of them ? Disunited inaction ? What has happened is that the American Secretary of State Las suddenly decided to Make a trip to Europe for talks with the British and French Governments in anticipation of the Geneva conference. This action, which may have been rash and clumsy, is being treated as if it were warlike and wicked. The major fact is that Mr. Dulles, for all his faults, which have been criticised ad nauseam, is maging a reasonable proposal, and pursuing a practice which is well established among the Western Powers. his fact has been swamped in a flood of complaints that he lacks the minor virtue of tact.
, Possibly common sense will prevail before the Geneva con- 'herence takes place. It is perfectly reasonable that the Western rowers should get together before the meeting. lt is perfectly reasonable that the Chinese should be warned that they cannot tip much further in their support for the Viet Minh without 2ying to take the consequences of armed aggression, against which they have been repeatedly warned. And it is absolutely cessary that the European Press in general should recognise • at the difference between right and wrong is of more import- 111Ce than differences of diplomatic method. Fortunately in wis matter Governments seem to be in advance of the Press. .„ Yet the injunctions to " wait for Geneva " continue to appear. Zit there is no special virtue in this parrot cry. It may as ‘..ell be recognised now that mere waiting on the part of the owfestern Powers—which could mean mere passive acceptance h lack of co-ordination in their Far Eastern policies—will not 01 imitated by the Russian and Chinese Communist Govern- „ ents. They will continue to concert their policies. They will nt cease to aid and abet the Viet Minh rebels. They are most IikelY to be shamed into a policy of co-operation with the est. The "wait for Geneva” argument does not amount to Z• ucb more than a plea for organised wishful thinking. +nese has always been some danger that the Western Powers would go to Geneva with curiosity rather than a sense of purpose uppermost in their minds. Now it looks as if this diplomatic inanity is to be regarded as a virtue.
It is the facts that matter. The first central fact is that there is an armed insurrection in Indo-China, organised by local Communists, assisted by Chinese and armed to a great extent by Russia. The second fact is that there is a strong independ- ence movement among the peoples of Indo-China. Both of these facts need to be remembered, and particularly by those who claim to be anti-American for the sake of the Viet Minh. Since the United States Government is interested in the pre- vention of the spread of aggressive Communism in South-East Asia and, by origin and long tradition, also interested in independence for colonial peoples, there is no reason to antici- pate any incurable disagreement between Mr. Dulles and his Western colleagues. Their first purpose is plain. Obviously the attempt must be made at Geneva to stop the war. Viet Minh, French, Chinese, Russians, all must stop— not just Americans, who have hardly started, who hate war, who always want to "bring the boys home," and who have always helped, not hindered, peoples struggling for indepen- dence from colonial rule.
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