HC Deb 23 February 1959 vol 600 cc812-3
49. Mr. Swingler

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, in view of the present deadlock in the area, if he will propose a recall of the Geneva Conference to discuss ways and means of implementing the provisions of the agreement on Vietnam.

51. Mr. Warbey

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he will now invite the other co-chairman of the Geneva Conference to discuss steps toward the reunification of Vietnam, in accordance with the Geneva Agreement.

Mr. R. Allan

I would refer the hon. Members to the reply which I gave to the hon. Member for Reading (Mr. Mikardo) on 16th February.

Mr. Swingler

Does that mean that Her Majesty's Government will take action at some time to seek the recall of this Conference, as it is now clear that the provisions of the Geneva Agreement on Vietnam are not being carried out? Are Her Majesty's Government willing, at some time, to request the recall of the Conference to investigate why these provisions are not being carried out?

Mr. Allan

I do not think that that would be the wish of the parties to the various agreements, and I do not see that any useful service would be performed by doing it now.

Mr. Warbey

Is the hon. Gentleman aware that in this case it is clear that the American Government and their puppet dictator Ngo dinh Diem are responsible for the failure to reunify Vietnam through free elections? Have the Government nothing in mind in the way of alternative methods of achieving this objective, other than by free elections?

Mr. Allan

As my right hon. and learned Friend has stated, we rely upon free elections.

Mr. F. M. Bennett

Can my hon. Friend indicate why the hon. Member for Ashfield (Mr. Warbey) and his friends are so anxious for free elections in Vietnam and yet disapprove of them in East Germany, where the Communists are in control, because, they say, they would be unrealistic?

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