HC Deb 17 June 1953 vol 516 cc955-6
19. Mr. A. Henderson

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs what action is to be taken, following the Four-Power Conference in Rangoon, with reference to the presence of Chinese Nationalist troops in Burma.

47. Mr. Harold Davies

asked the Prime Minister what steps he proposes to take at the Bermuda Conference to further the withdrawal of Chinese Nationalist troops from Burma.

Mr. Nutting

In answering this Question I have been asked also to reply to Question No. 47 which is put down to the Prime Minister. Discussions between the representatives of the four parties to the negotiating committee now meeting in Bangkok are going on satisfactorily. I hope that they will result in early agreement on a scheme for evacuation. The Question asked by the hon. Member for Leek (Mr. Harold Davies) does not therefore arise.

Mr. Davies

May I ask the hon. Gentleman whether his right hon. Friend has sources of information available which give the movements of the Chinese Nationalist troops? Further, is he aware that there seems to be intense activity at this moment to reach a Burmese port?

Mr. Nutting

I have no information on the latter part of the hon. Gentleman's supplementary question. As to the first part of it, that is one of the difficulties about this whole situation. These troops are in a very inaccessible part of Burma, jungle territory, but I have every hope that as a result of the discussions now proceeding in Bangkok we shall be able to locate them and to evacuate them.

Mr. A. Henderson

Can we take it that the representative of the Chinese Nationalist Government in Formosa now admits that they are in a position to act on behalf of these troops in this part of Burma?

Mr. Nutting

I would hesitate to commit the Chinese Nationalist representative on this committee to any such statement, but I am glad that discussions are proceeding very satisfactorily, after one or two initial disappointments.