§ 3.7 p.m.
§ LORD COLYTONMy 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 their attention has been called to the refusal of the Hungarian and Polish representatives on the International Control Commission in Saigon to accompany the Indonesian members of the Commission and South Vietnamese officers to inspect the damage caused by a Communist rocket attack on the Bien Hao air base on November 6, during the course of which two people including a child were killed, twenty-two people were wounded and five houses destroyed; and whether they will bring this matter to the notice of the Secretary General of the United Nations with a view to the prevention of such dereliction of duty on future occasions.
§ THE MINISTER OF STATE, FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH OFFICE (BARONESS TWEEDSMUIR OF BELIIELVIE)My Lords, the Government 748 of the. Republic of Vietnam informed Her Majesty's Government of the rocket attack on Bien Hao airfield. We greatly deplore all such violations of the Paris Agreement. The Secretary General of the United Nations was present at the International Conference on Vietnam in Paris in March; but the Conference but was unable to agree on any role for the Secretary General in supervising the Agreement.
§ LORD COLYTONMy Lords, while thanking my noble friend for her reply, may I say that I am aware that the United Nations were not directly involved in the Paris peace settlement in which we participated. But did not the noble Marquess, Lord Lothian, speaking on behalf of the Government on March 6 this year, express the hope that the time might come when the U.N. would be involved? Under Chapter 7 of the Charter of the United Nations, is not any member of the United Nations entitled, through the Secretary General, to bring before the Security Council any threat to peace, whether or not it is covered by an Agreement like the Paris Agreement? Finally, is there not, according to all the information emanating from North and South Vietnam and Cambodia, the strongest possible evidence of an imminent large-scale Communist attack? Should not we and other peace-loving countries take determined and urgent steps, through the Secretary General, to bring the matter before the Security Council and so forestall it?
§ BARONESS TWEEDSMUIR OF BELHELVIEMy Lords, it is perfectly true that my noble friend Lord Lothian did say on behalf of Her Majesty's Government that we hoped that the United Nations would be involved. We pressed this very hard during the Conference but, as said in my reply, we were unable to achieve agreement beyond the fact that the Secretary General is entitled to receive reports. It is quite true that any member of the Security Council can raise in the Council a question in regard to which he considers would be a threat to the peace; but under the Paris Agreements there are very definite arrangements whereby the International Conference on Vietnam can be reconvened upon a joint request either by the Government of the U.S.A. and the Government of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam 749 or upon a request by six or more parties. That has so far not taken place.
On the third part of my noble friend's supplementary question, there have recently been signs of an increase in the number of violations of the cease-fire and there are indications of an infiltration of men and supplies into South Vietnam from the North; but we have to take into account that all the parties to the Agreement have repeated in public their intention to carry it out.
§ LORD COLYTONMy Lords, does this actually involve the abandonment of our rights under Chapter 7 of the Charter to bring any matter liable to lead to war to the attention of the Security Council?
§ BARONESS TWEEDSMUIR OF BELHELVIEMy Lords, there has not been an abandonment of our rights. The Paris Conference laid down certain definite procedures; and the Conference itself in relation to Vietnam could be reconvened by the United States working together with the Government of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. As the United States has not sought to use this procedure, we do not feel that we, who are not directly involved, should take action in the Security Council.
§ LORD SEGALMy Lords, have the Government any doubts about the absolute impartiality of the Hungarian and Polish representatives on the International Control Commission?
§ BARONESS TWEEDSMUIR or BELHELVIEMy Lords, we feel that the Commission has to a large extent been prevented from carrying out its work, both because of the partisanship of some of its members, and because of the failure of the Communist forces in South Vietnam to co-operate with the Commission.