§ 52. Mr. Harold Daviesasked the Lord Privy Seal what reply he, as co-chairman of the 1954 Geneva Conference on Indo-China, proposes to make to the protests sent to him by the Foreign Minister of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in a Note dated 22nd February, 1963, about the use of American aeroplanes to spray toxic chemicals on the vegetation and rice fields in North Vietnam.
§ Mr. HeathI have received no communication regarding the use of toxic chemicals in North Vietnam. As regards the use of chemical defoliants in South Vietnam, I understand that the Government of North Vietnam has made a number of complaints to the International Control Commission. It is for the Commission to decide whether these complaints fall within its competence.
§ Mr. DaviesIs the right hon. Gentleman aware that over the years since the 1954 Conference hon. Members both sides have complained of what some of us believe to be the Government's lack of acceptance of responsibility as co-chairman of the Geneva Conference? Will the Lord Privy Seal publish for the House reports of the International Control Commission on the conditions which it has found as the result of the use of these toxic chemicals, supplied by the United States, against North Vietnam and the price in vegetation and life and limb to the people of this tragic little country?
§ Mr. HeathI will certainly see what reports are available on the subject from the International Commission. I know that the hon. Member follows these matters closely. He will realise that the purpose of these defoliants is to remove leaves from the trees without damaging the trees or the ground beneath so that the guerillas cannot hide there.
§ Mr. WarbeyIn view of the fact that the Americans have for three years been carrying on an undeclared intervention in the civil war in South Vietnam, employing 12,000 armed men of their own and using methods of which some of us would not approve if they were used in British territories, is it not time that we at least took the step of withdrawing the British Police Mission from Saigon, thus at least relieving ourselves of co-responsibility in this dirty war?
§ Mr. HeathNo, Sir, certainly not. The main illusion in the last three years seems to have been that of the hon. Member that North Vietnam had nothing whatever to do with this.