§ Q3. Mr. Zilliacusasked the Prime Minister to what extent the pledge he made to President Johnson to support United States' policy in South Viet-Nam was conditional upon observance of the 1954 Geneva Treaty, to which this country is a party.
§ The Prime MinisterHer Majesty's Government do not consider the United States policy of helping the Republic of Viet-Nam to resist Communist subversion inconsistent with the Geneva Agreement.
§ Mr. ZilliacusIs not the Prime Minister aware that the import of reinforcements of men and materials by the United States is a violation of the Geneva Treaty; that the United States is, in effect, waging a war of intervention on behalf of a puppet dictatorship that was imposed upon a people who were themselves revolting against a previous dictatorship, and that under the Charter there is no right of intervention in the internal affairs of a country, even on the pretext of Communist subversion?
§ The Prime MinisterUnited States assistance to South Viet-Nam is given at the request of the Government of South Viet-Nam. There is, therefore, no question of intervention in their internal affairs. The help is given to assist them to resist subversion which, as the hon. Member knows as well as anyone else, is coming from the north.