§ Q3. Mr. Molloyasked the Prime Minister if he will now make a further statement on the intentions of Her Majesty's Government to assist in achieving a settlement and procuring peace in Vietnam.
§ The Prime MinisterI would refer my hon. Friend to the Answers I gave to Questions on 23rd and 28th May and on 13th June, Sir.—[Vol. 765, c. 862–4, Vol. 765, c. 1530–1, Vol. 766, c. 1433–4.]
§ Mr. MolloyAre we ready to help at any moment if called upon? Could we not help by keeping in close touch with the Soviet Union, bearing in mind its success at Tashkent? Are we prepared, if a cease-fire should be brought about, to give all aid possible in medical supplies and other forms in repairing the shattered lives of the Vietnamese people?
§ The Prime MinisterI have repeatedly said that we stand ready to help. We are in close touch with our Soviet co-Chairman, and my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary recently discussed all these matters with his Soviet opposite number, Mr. Gromyko. Of course, we shall be ready to do all in our power to help in binding up the wounds of Vietnam.
§ Mr. Gwynfor EvansWill the Prime Minister point out to President Johnson that since America is the aggressor in Vietnam it has no right to demand reciprocity for stopping the bombing of North Vietnam?
§ The Prime MinisterI do not agree with the hon. Gentleman's premise and therefore, I cannot agree with the conclusion he draws from it. As I have made clear repeatedly, this is inevitably a horrible and ghastly war. With the bombing by one side there is also the ghastly shelling of civilians in Saigon by the Vietcong and North Vietnamese in recent days.
§ Mr. ParkWill not my right hon. Friend recognise that, until there is an absolute and unconditional cessation of bombing of North Vietnam by the United States, the Paris talks will make little progress? Will he not urge on the United States Government that reciprocity from the North Vietnamese will only follow and cannot precede the cessation of American bombing?
§ The Prime MinisterI am aware that this has been repeatedly stated over the past two years and more by the authorities in North Vietnam. It was one of the great difficulties faced by all of us concerned in getting the parties to the conference table. But now that they are at the conference table it is not for any of us to make it more difficult by saying what will and what will not be acceptable. The important thing is to keep them at the conference table.
§ Mr. TapsellIs it not shocking that at the very time the Americans have stopped bombing in the vicinity of Hanoi the Communists should have launched an all-out offensive on Saigon?
§ The Prime MinisterI have mentioned that this is one of the factors to be set out on the other side against the serious matters raised about the effect of the American bombing. All this proves the necessity for both sides to recognise that there will be no military solution but only a political solution and that they should get on with their talks.