HL Deb 05 May 1953 vol 182 c204
VISCOUNT STANSGATE

My Lords, I beg to ask the first Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.

[The Question was as follows:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have any evidence, and if so what it is, that the Government in Moscow prompted the recent invasion of Laos and that it is in fact associated with the Korean truce talks.]

THE MARQUESS OF READING

My Lords, Her Majesty's Government have no direct evidence that the Government of the U.S.S.R. prompted the recent invasion of Laos, nor am I in a position to say that there is any direct association between the invasion of Laos and the Korean Truce talks. The invasion of Laos has clearly been under preparation for many months, and must have been set in motion before the death of Marshal Stalin and the developments which have followed.

LORD VANSITTART

Has not the French Commander in Laos said that the Chinese assistance to the invaders has been stepped up in the last few months and that Czech mortars are being used in the process of the aggression?

THE MARQUESS OF READING

I would not pledge my word as to whether or not that exact expression had been used. All I would say was that there was no direct connection between the invasion of Laos and the Korean truce talks. That is our view.

LORD VANSITTART

But the point I was endeavouring to make was that Czech mortars do not drop from Heaven and that they would not be able to be got to Laos without the connivance of both the Chinese and the Russian Governments.

THE MARQUESS OF READING

My Lords, in these days of parachutes all sorts of weapons of war are dropped from Heaven.

LORD VANSITTART

I think that is a rather thin answer.