HC Deb 08 February 1954 vol 523 cc819-20
28. Mr. Elwyn Jones

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs to make a statement on the present state of the negotiations for a Korean Peace Conference.

Mr. Selwyn Lloyd

The negotiations are still interrupted and no date has yet been agreed for their resumption.

Mr. Elwyn Jones

If my hon. Friend the Member for Leek (Mr. Harold Davies) will permit me to ask a supplementary question, will the right hon. and learned Gentleman say what action, if any, Her Majesty's Government are taking to break the present deadlock? Is any initiative coming from the Government? It is long past time that there was.

Mr. Lloyd

I appreciate the importance of the matter, and we desire these discussions to be resumed. In fact at the present time questions about the Far East are being discussed in restricted session in Berlin, and we think it rather better to wait until we see what happens there.

Mr. A. Henderson

Will the right hon. and learned Gentleman give the House an assurance that it is the policy of the British Government that any discussions aiming at the organisation of the political conference should not founder on questions about whether certain countries were belligerent or neutral, and that it is also the Government's policy to seek to bring about a political conference at which all nations who are interested in Far Eastern matters shall be represented?

Mr. Lloyd

It is still the policy of Her Majesty's Government to seek to get a Korean political conference, and we have repeatedly stated our views as to the people who should be asked to contribute to the conference.

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