§ 2.50 p.m.
§ LORD BROCKWAYMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government whether, in view of their participation in the Paris Agreement for a cease-fire in Indo-China, they will exert their influence towards the implementation of that Agreement.
7§ THE MINISTER OF STATE, FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH OFFICE (BARONESS TWEEDSMUIR OF BELHELVIE)My Lords, as my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Foreign and Comomnwealth Affairs said at the International Conference on Vietnam at Paris, it is above all for the four parties who signed the Paris Agreement in January to make the Agreement work. The recent Canadian decision to withdraw from the International Commission for Control and Supervision underlines the fact that only the parties directly concerned can create the conditions for an enduring settlement.
§ LORD BROCKWAYMy Lords, I thank the noble Baroness for that reply. May I ask her whether, in view of the fact that, almost entirely, that Agreement has not been kept, it is not time now for the British Government and the other participants in the Paris Agreement to seek to intervene? Does she still take the view that the matter can largely be left to America and North Hanoi? In the view of the critical situation over such a vast area, may it not be that a solution must be found in recalling the Geneva Conference, so that the whole world opinion can be brought to press for some solution?
§ BARONESS TWEEDSMUIR OF BELHELVIEMy Lords, I do not think it would be appropriate to reconvene the Geneva Conference. The Paris Conference was the one at which we gave our support to the Vietnam Agreement, and at that time all the Governments were clear that the responsibility for carrying it out must rest with the parties.
§ LORD BROCKWAYMy Lords, may I ask the noble Baroness two further questions, first regarding the International Commission from which Canada is withdrawing? Would it not be possible to suggest that in addition to replacing Canada by some neutral nation the Commission should be given greater authority by the appointment of a United Nations representative as its chairman, so that there would no longer be ideological equality on the two sides?
§ BARONESS TWEEDSMUIR OF BELHELVIEMy Lords, any substitute for the Canadians has in the first place to be agreed upon by the four parties to 8 the original Agreement. After that it has to be ratified by the members of the Conference. I would add that the International Conference on Vietnam was held in the presence of the Secretary-General of the United Nations.
§ LORD BROCKWAYMy Lords, the noble Baroness will get a third supplementary question because this matter is so terribly critical. In the case of Cambodia, would Her Majesty's Government consider making a proposal that a caretaker Government under Son Sann, who is neutral, should take over, to be followed by free elections in that territory, as was suggested in Vietnam itself?
§ BARONESS TWEEDSMUIR OF BELHELVIEMy Lords, I think that before any settelement can be arrived at the foreign forces will have to withdraw, because I understand that it is the wish of the Cambodian parties that they should settle their differences together by negotiation.