. Getting France to Release Viet Nam Hold
Presents Touchy International Problem.
EDITOR'S NOTE: The Unit
e Slates is gambling off the
future of South Viet Nam. it
iiftMiiBg a hand, directly or in
direct!, in the way that stra
tegic area is governed. Wha
lies ahead? , What are the
, chances of peeping commun
is out? Hou, about Prgmier
Diem? Presto' Crovor went to
Saigon to sce answers to these
1 and othfr questions.
By PRESTON CUOVER
Ot The Associated Press
SAIGON, South Viet Nam W
The French have lost ou de.
cisively in South Vict Nam but
the task of getting out of power
gracefully has been handled so
ineptly on all sides that it has
become a major international
problem.
Many French here recognize
that they have lost out and soon
er or later must turn over con
trol fully to the Vietnamese.
The Vietnamese want the
French out. The Vietnamese
want to run their own couatry.
The Americans want the
French out. Americans believe
it will be easier to organize an
anti-Communist ' defense when
the French are gone.
Those are simple statements,
but there the simplicity of the
problem ends. National ambitions
and sensibilities and human am
bitions and sensibilities enter at
this point to make the story both
dramatic and dangerous.
Civil war is still a bare possi
bility in this country. Perhaps
more serious is the fact that the
French and Americans have got
into such a squabble over how
to lead the country to independ
ence during the next 12 months
that they are risking the very
independence they are trying to
save.
MISTY LAND
Moreover, their squabbling en
dangers their relationship in Eu
rope. Here in this soft and misty
land it all seems too unreal and
unnecessary. The Saigon River
flows past the window of the
room where this is written. This
section of the river is a quarter
of a mile wide and is deep
enough to handle big steamers.
Its shores are lined with ship's
from the West, but the river
is crawling as well with smaller
boats, some hauling sand and
wood to be unloaded by walking
conveyor belts of coolies, others
engaged in that strange and in
tricate commerce that involves
rice, bamboo, coconuts, teak, fer
mented fish, cloth and families.
The families huddle on the
decks while the boats carry them
and their big and little bundles
to some other place where may
be it will be better.
Up and down this river roam
landing craft, troop transports.
destroyer tenders, gun boats and
mine layers. They represent the
TACKLE SOUTH VIET NAM PROBLEMS Ngo Dinh Diem, left, premier o South
Viet Nam, chats with village leaders at Qui Nhon during a visit to the town which
changed hands several times during the Indochina war with the Communist-led Viet
minh. Diem, victor in the military and political war now in the cleanup stage, appears
well on the way to his goal of ousting the French from power in South Viet Nam.
remnants of a battle lost because
they could not turn and twist
their massive weight and strik
ing power fast enough to meet
the swarms of smaller, more
agile 'enemies that finally beat
them.
LIGHT TOUCH
That happened to France in
the rice-paddy war and political
struggle she could not adjust her
self to fight.
Franca came first to this coun
try with the light touch of self
les missionaries. A few of thein
landed on the south coast of Vict
Nam called Cochin China. That
was just after the American Rev
olutionary War.
Later a treaty was arranged be
tween France and the Vietnam
ese. The Vietnamese were colon
ists themselves in those days, and
had just finished a centuries-long
sweep from the Tonkin delta of
North Viet Nam southward into
Cochin China.
Viet Nam was having a civil
war when the French treaty was
arranged in 1787 but before the
French got around to ratifying
it, they were having a revolution
themselves. Nevertheless, an en
terprising French bishop in In
dia rounded up forces, sailed
them over to Indochina, and
helped scat a troubled prince on
the throne. With this help, the
new king unified the country.
Ho opened it to western civilization.
The opening was temporary.
A later Vietnamese king turned
on the Catholic priests, slaught-l
crcd a score of them, and chased
others into the wilderness to die
of disease and starvation. The
revulsion against the West and
its ways lasted until the Western
tide of imperialism opened Japan
and China also. In 1862 France
forced the local prince to cede
three southern provinces of Viet
Nam.. By 1885 the French had
gained control of all Viet Nam,
North and South, the final act
being a brief skirmish with the
Chinese to make them give up
ancient claims.
Thus began the years of
French influence in Indochina
which have so colored their pres
ent outlook. Indochina was one
of the richest prizes any nation
got in the big empire rush. It
poured its wealth into France
and the French put skill, enter
prise and civilization into Indo
china. The current language of
the intellectual classes here is
French. The French built rail
roads, bridges, highways, and
opened a vast network of canals
which from the air looks like
white ribbons lying straight and
clean through the jungle.
Frenchmen came here to
live. They closed the market to
other nations and sold their own
goods here at high prices. It was
real cmpinng.
There was resistance but the
French for long years could put
it dawn. The first rude shock
came when the Japanese turned
on the West. Many Vietnamese
sided with the Japanese.
The French return in 1945 was
the beginning of a sad affair. In
vain the Vietnamese pleaded for'
freedom "within, the French
Union." '' . 1
The French did 'not seem to
realize that the era of colonial
ism had about ended in the Far
East. Indonesia pulled loose from
the Dutch. India and Burma
were released by Britain. The
Philippines, by an earlier agree
ment, received independence
from America. '
LARGE REASONS
bull the French held on.
There were reasons, and large
ones. France was fighting to
keep a place among the big pow
ers after her defeat by Ger
many. She needed the wealth of
Indochina, wanted to preserve a
foothold in Asia.
The commercial angle still is
important to France, but the
world-power factor seems to in
fluence her leaders most today.
In Europe, the United States has
paid out billions to help her in
this struggle. But here, in recent
months, the policy has changed
radically and some of the local
executors of American policy
give little heed to such matters,
One of the more bitter chapters
was written at Geneva last year
when the French, beaten in the
field despite American aid, in
effect gave up their rights in
North Indochina. They promised
the South also the right to vote
its freedom. But it was not in
the hearts of the French to let it
go, and therein lies much of the
source of the current troubles.
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