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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (May 17, 1962)
Two Key Questions Facing United States in Southeast Asia Fracas Editor's note: How deeply committed ii the United States in Southeast Asia and how much farther can the present crisis involve Americans? In the follow ing dispatch UPI's foreign news analyst examines causes and effects of the current situation and points up problems with which the United States now is faced. By PHIL NEWSOM UPI Foreign News Analyst With two -thirds of Laos firmly in the Communist grip, two key questions face the United States in its announced determination to prevent the remainder of Southeast Asia going the same way. -Has the right-wing govern ment of Prince Boun Oum and strongman Gen. Phoumi Jlo savan announced too late its readiness to join a neutralist regime for Laos? -How much farther is the United States, already deeply involved in South Viet Nam, willing to commit itself? Any lingering doubt about the reliability of the royal Laotian forces vanished last week when 3,000 troops fled in panic from their Nam Tha stronghold, with their officers in the vanguard of the flight and without even bothering to inform their American ad visers of their plans. Militarily, there also seem ed no doubt that the Communist-led and equipped Pathet Lao forces could, under present circumstances, take over the whole of Laos if they wished. Problem Is Two-Fold For the United States, the question was both military and diplomatic. It joined with Great Britain in demanding that Moscow prevail upon Pathet Lao forces to withdraw to the happiest shoe feeling COQLAND FIT for easier stance . . . .while addressing the meeting, touring foreign scenes or super-market aisles. Elastic strap keeps the breezy styling snug with your foot. Comfort's assured on the foamciishioned mid-hl wedge . . bone with beige kid Multi or all white. OPEN MONDAY NIGHT 'TIL 9 vvwv Jig! y sportshop 2nd floor THK NEWEST LOOK ASHOKE . . . FROSTED PASTELS BY WHITE STAG A. Cool new coordinates: "Waltzing Polkas" Jump Shirt and Southampton. 100 cotton broadcloth shirt, longer length, longer front placket to step into or pull over! Tone-on-tone polka dots. Shirt 7.95 Pants 7.95 B. Parfait Stripes: An appetizing confection in Frosted Pastels. Sleeve less brief top, scooped neckline side zipper. Slim Southampton length pants match or mix perfectly, fops 5.95 Panfc 8.95 14 No. Central - 2150E. in - SPring 3-7484 cease fire line established in May 1961. Militarily, the United States reacted with a show of force which included the movement of a 1,000-man U.S. combat unit in Thailand near to the Mekong river border with Laos and the dispatch of a 7th Fleet carrier force with U. S. Marines aboard to the Gulf of Siam. Tactically, it was a move reminiscent of U. S. strategy in defense of Formosa where, without actually declaring it self, the mere presence of the 7th Fleet has been credited with preventing a Red Chi. nese attack on the Nationalist offshore islands of Quemoy and the Matsus. It obviously was hoped that similar moves might also in still caution into the Reds in Laos. In Washington, officials re fused to be drawn out on the possibility that U.S. troops might be dispatched to Laos itself. Undersecretary of State W. Ball declared that the United States still sought a coalition government for Laos and "we have not at all aban doned hope of achieving it. Decision Reached There were, however, other straws, which also were avail able to the Communists, indi. eating that some military de cisions already had been reached. The most important of these emerged more than a year ago at a meeting of SEATO (Southeast Asia Treaty Or ganization) military advisers in Bangkok. It was indicated then that the military commanders had agreed that the defense of Southeast Asia must be made at the Mekong river, a major stream which originates in the mountains of Tibet, forms Burma's border with Laos, most of Thailand's and finally empties through a vast delta in South Vict Nam into the South China Sea. U. S. Secretary of State Dean Rusk assured Thailand leaders scarcely more than two months ago that the United States firmly would support its commitments to Thailand against both direct Construction Strike Threats Subside San Francisco -fflPD- Threats of a state-wide California con struction tieun subsided tndav with reports of progress in la- Dor negotiations in tno south ern part of the state, but Northern California's $3.5 bil lion industry slowed to a standstill. Jame9 L. Smith, chief nego tiator for the Laborers Union in Southern California, said there was a "fair Dossibility" of a settlement. Bids Called for River Trail Work The Medford district of the bureau of land management has called for bids for recon struction of an eight-mile seg ment of the Rogue River Trail, according to District Manager Ross A. Youngblood. The portion of the trail is located between Bronco creek and Kelsey creek, approxi mately 20 miles west of Wolf creek, Ore. Persons interested in bid ding on the work may secure specifications from the Med ford district office, 1133 South Riverside ave., Medford. A guided inspection. tour of the project site will be conducted Thursday, May 24, one week prior to the date set for open ing bids. For Congress DEMOCRAT Bob Slraub and indirect aggression and would do it either inside or outside of SEATO, Hence, the dispatch of U. S. troops to the Mekong river line in Thailand may take on special significance, especially in light of the fact the Laotian army no longer can be count ed as a military force. This evidence, coupled with the United States' declared de. termination to remain in South Viet Nam until the Communist menace is defeat ed there, seems to indicate the defense line, running from the 17th Parallel in Viet Nam to the.east to the Mekong river border in the west. There were other conditions mitigating against the dis patfli of U. S. forces into Laos itself. One was the assurance of Red Chinese Foreign Minister Marshal Chen Yl that in the event of Western military in tervention in Laos, Commu nist China "also will send troops," thus assuring another Korea. In Washington, there also was opposition. As long ago as May of last year, Sen. J. W. Fulbright, declared he would oppose in tervention In Laos because the Laotians were unwilling to shoot "evefi if you give them a gun." He said he would not oppose intervention in Thai land or South Viet Nam be cause those people were will ing to defend themselves. In Laos, Nikita Khrushchev holds the key. In their Vienna meeting in June, 1961, President Ken nedy and Khrushchev agreed to establish a "neutral and in dependent Laos" which would serve as a buffer zone between the Communist and Western powers." He might move now to halt the southward spread of Red Chinese influence, or he might turn his back. Whether neutral or Red, Laos loses none of its strategic importance. Ugder Communist control it exposes both Burma and Thai land, strengthens the possibil ity of a Communist take-over of neutral Cambodia and pro vides another avenue for tha flow of Communist arms into South Viet Nam. MedfordwJTribune SECTION D MEDFORD, OREGON. THURSDAY, MAY 17, 1962 PAGES I to 10 G. F. Davies and William H. Brooks Suggest: Run County Affairs at Home, Not in Salem HOME RULE -YES! Pd. Pol. Ad. CITIZENS COMMITTEE FOR HOME RULE, R. E. Collins, Chmn., 235 So. Oakdale, Medford, Oregon. 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