Loggerheads and Loopholes
Stalemate, if not breakdown, impends over the truce talks at Panmunjom, where meetings between the delegates have been brief in duration and brusque in atmosphere. The Communists have rejected the United States suggestion that Switzerland should act as custodian of prisoners who refuse repatriation, and they have still not named an alternative neutral State, although they have said that one might be found in Asia. General Harrison, whose utterances as United Nations spokesman are apt to sound uncompromising and even testy, has said that the recommendation of Switzerland for this invidious task is " beyond criticism." It is at least arguable that this is not so. Switzerland—and the Communists base their objections on this point—has already been nominated as a member of the four-nation supervisory commission charged with, seeing that the terms of the truce are complied with; and it cannot be denied that to have nationals of one State performing two radically different functions in the same area might lead to a certain degree of confusion. There may moreover be behind the Communists' stated objections to Switzerland, their lurking prejudice against the International Red Cross, with which that country is so closely associated. This prejudice is silly and unreasonable, but that is no reason for leaving it out of account. General Harrison and his colleagues .give the impression of being so determined not to be out-manoeuvred that they prefer the exchange of manifestoes to negotiation in the generally accepted sense of the word; and their somewhat apoplectic manner when making statements to the Press does nothing to increase confidence in their mastery of the wiles of diplomacy. President Eisenhower's appointment as adviser to General Mark Clark of. Mr. George Murphy, the outgoing American Ambassador to Japan, may bring a little more imagination into the conduct of a difficult affair. It is certainly needed.
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