VIEWS OF THE WEEK
Mr. Wilson Meets the General
From DREW
THERE is less to the visit of Prime Minister Wilson to General de Gaulle than meets the eye.
Naturally some interest is attached to the first conference between the French President and a British Prime Minister since de Gaulle pulled the rug out from under Harold Macmillan and the Tory bid to enter the Common Market. There may be some peripheral political advantage for the West European leader with the.smallest majority in being welcomed by the one with the largest. Certainly pious hopes will be expressed about increasing trade between the two countries. Anglo-French co-operation in the research, de- velopment and production of aircraft and other costly hardware may be stimulated.
But the basic French attitude toward Britain has not changed with the arrival of a new tenant at No. 10. If anything, recent events have served to strengthen one of its primary beliefs. This is that the government of the United Kingdom is too close to that of the United States; so close, in fact, that it can hardly be considered an in- dependent power. Mr. Wilson's professed support for American policy in Vietnam has given the French an example of what they regard as a deplorable tendency in London: The Prime , Minister, if he wants a quiet time, will keep this .issue well in the background. The General is very sore about Vietnam at the moment. He's been giving President Johnson free advice about how to settle the war, for over a year. As far as can be learned here, de Gaulle might just as well be talking to the wall. A national leader, accus- tomed to having his words treated with the respect due to the latest tip from Delphi, doesn't like that sort of treatment.
Some rude fellows also have been pointing out that the General has been getting the silent treatment from the Chinese as well. The French, in the words of one official, know no more about the Chinese policy than what they read in the papers. It's only a little over a year since de Gaulle recognised China, emphasising her importance in any Asian settlement. Since then he's made it clear that he's available if Peking wants to arrange any sort of a negotiation, five-power, seventeen-power or what have you. No answer. Gratitude apparently is as foreign to popular republics as to any other kind.
Mr. Wilson, however, is likely to find his host quite encouraging about relations between the two countries. The President is a great hand at praising Britain and expressing his warm admiration of many of her institutions as long as it is strictly understood that she is not con- templating entry into the Common Market. Since this is far from being the case, at present, the Prime Minister can expect some warm words about the need for increasing trade between the two peoples and the suggestion that they must co-operate in certain fields, aircraft construction for one, if they are to remain economically inde- pendent of America.
The French understand this. They hope the British do. Resistance to the American economic invasion is a powerful factor in French policy. To win British co-operation in building aircraft and some types of advanced weapons probably is the motivation behind most of the kind things said about the United Kingdom since the first of the year. There's nothing particularly new about this. Late in 1962 when Mr. Macmillan paid his last visit to the Chateau de Rambouillet, the French were anxiously seeking help for their nuclear programme. They didn't get it then, but they count on Mr. Wilson being more accommo- dating in a less spectacular but, for them, im- portant field Of construction.
One means of giving the meeting at least the outward signs of success would be the announce- ment of an agreement on the development of some types of military aircraft. But the ground- work on this is already being done. It is highly Unlikely that in this field de Gaulle will deal in anything but generalities.
Recently the crocodile tears shed hereabouts for Britain's economic plight have dried. France's economy has been going through a rather shaky period and in consequence, the local financial seers have had less time to deplore cross-channel failings. One result has been an intensification of the drive for foreign trade. Britain, despite • her tariff barriers, remains a tempting market for France. This is bound to contribute to the cordiality, if not to the concrete results, of the meeting.
The government is doing its best to adapt French industry and agriculture to meet in- creasing competition abroad. A bill has been approved by the cabinet that will ease the tax burden on stockholders and thus encourage in- vestment in private industry. Valdry Giscard d'Estaing, the Minister of Finance, saw this as making French industry a 'powerful, modern and competitive instrument' and assuring 'the economic independence of the country.' Taxes will be simplified and lightened on corporate mergers and on capital gains to encourage the concentration of French industries, many of which are far too small to compete with the foreign giants.
This, again, is the theme of national indepen- dence that Mr. Wilson will hear as often as, or oftener than, the `Marseillaise.' Nominally at least an apostle of interdependence with the United States, the Prime Minister has a difficult two days ahead of him. It will be interesting to see what sort of a defence he offers to the General's assertions that independence is the only road for any self-respecting country.
For although the General at his last press conference, after being prompted, stressed the importance of ties with Britain, the whole trend in French policy since the first of the year has been away from the American-led Atlantic community, in which Britain is included, and towards a European or continental comity. It may be difficult to grasp in London, but to ad' vanced Gaullists, enthusiastic about closer ties with the Soviet Union, London is as far awaY as Washington and equally irrelevant to the development of French policy.
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