§ 71. Mr. Harold Daviesasked the Lord Privy Seal if he will publish in the OFFICIAL REPORT the reply of the Soviet Government to the British Notes of 14th and 23rd June on the International Control Commission's Special Report on Vietnam.
§ 1962 Mr. HeathYes.
Soviet Note to Her Majesty's Government of 2nd July,
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the U.S.S.R. present their compliments to Her Majesty's Embassy and in connexion with the Embassy's Note of the 14th of June of this year have the honour to state the following.
The Government of the U.S.S.R. is permanently concerned about the situation in South Viet Nam, which has been brought about as a result of the violations of the Geneva Agreements of 1954 on the part of the U.S.A. In its Note to Her Majesty's Embassy, dated September the ninth, 1961, and its aide mémoire, dated the eighth of January of this year, and also in the statement of the M.F.A. of the U.S.S.R. of the 17th of March of this year, the Soviet Government drew Her Majesty's Government's attention to the necessity of taking urgent steps to end the intervention of the U.S.A. in the internal affairs of South Viet Nam. However, these proposals were unfortunately not supported by Her Majesty's Government as subsequent events showed, this attitude of Her Majesty's Government only encouraged the U.S.A. to further aggressive acts in South Viet Nam.
The facts indicate that the U.S.A. together with the South Viet Nam authorities have systematically been violating the Geneva Agreements from the first day they were signed. The U.S. are the main culprits in preventing one of the basic clauses of these 115W agreements being carried out—the holding of general elections in Viet Nam with the object of uniting the country, which should already have taken place in 1956.
In violation of Articles 16 and 17 of the Geneva Agreements the U.S.A. brought into South Viet Nam large military forces in the form of regular troops, sent there a lot of aeroplanes, artillery and other military equipment. In defiance of Article 18 of the Geneva Agreements, which forbids the creation of new military bases, the U.S.A. are building in South Viet Nam large aerodromes, supply dumps and other installations of a military nature. Finally, the creation of an American military command on the territory of South Viet Nam was also an act of flagrant violation of the Geneva Agreements on Viet Nam and at the same time a violation of the obligation, accepted by the U.S. Government at Geneva, "to refrain from threats of or the use of force for the purpose of breaking the agreements".
In the special report of the International Commission on South Viet Nam it is emphasised that the military measures taken by the U.S.A. in South Viet Nam indicate that between South Viet Nam and the United States there is virtually a military alliance, which is forbidden by Article 19 of the Geneva Agreements. It is surprising that Her Majesty's Government, when dealing in their Note with the report of the International Commission in question, pass over this important assertion. Surely this conclusion drawn by the Commission shows that the United States and their henchman in South Viet Nam, Ngo Dinh Diem, are guilty of repeated violations of the Geneva Agreements of 1954.
In the light of this, the attempts by Her Majesty's Government in some measure to justify the actions of the U.S.A. in South Viet Nam and to suggest that the U.S. have no desire "for bases or other military advantages" in this country are quite untenable.
The Government of the U.S.S.R. emphatically rejects as unfounded the assertions of Her Majesty's Government that the Democratic Republic of Viet Nam is the "root-cause of the present troubles" in South Viet Nam. Those assertions cannot hide the indisputable fact that the U.S.A. and no one else is waging an undeclared war against the Viet Nam people. It is well known that the South Viet Namese authorities with the support of the U.S.A. soon after the signing of the Geneva Agreements of 1954 began to carry out savage repressions against former members of the resistance movement, proceeding from the outset to violate Article 14 of the above mentioned agreements. All those who support the demo-cratisation of South Viet Nam, the union of the country, and the withdrawal of American forces from South Viet Nam began to be victimised. Hundreds of thousands of Viet Namese patriots were executed, thrown into prison and herded into concentration camps. This was bound to produce widespread discontent, subsequently taking the form of a mass movement against Ngo Dinh Diem's régime and the American interventionists. As is doubtless well known to Her Majesty's Government, the most diverse section of the population are 116W at the moment participating in this movement, which is headed by the Patriotic Front of National Liberation: peasants, artisans, workers, students, the intelligentsia and even soldiers in Ngo Dinh Diem's army. It is natural that Viet Namese living in the north of the country feel fervent sympathy and fraternal solidarity towards the population of South Viet Nam and voice their support for its just struggle for basic human rights and the independence of their country.
As regards the special report of the International Commission for Supervision and Control in Viet Nam, dated the second of June of this year, reference to which is made in the British Note, the Government of the U.S.S.R. as Co-Chairman of the Geneva Agreements supports those parts of this report which were unanimously accepted by all members of the Commission, and as before considers that the cessation by the United States of the import of arms and military materials into South Viet Nam, the immediate withdrawal from South Viet Nam of American military personnel and the liquidation of the American military command on the territory of this country are urgent measures essential to the normalisation of the situation in South Viet Nam, to ensure the development of Viet Nam on the road of peace and independence.
The Soviet Government reiterates its proposals to Her Majesty's Government of the ninth of September 1961, and the eighth of January of this year, about the necessity of sending to the U.S. Government a message to this effect from the Co-Chairmen.
As regards those parts of the International Commission's report which led to differences of opinion in the Commission itself, the Government of the U.S.S.R. fully supports the statement of the representative of the Polish People's Republic on the Commission and considers that the statement of the Polish representative of the Co-Chairmen of the 1954 Geneva Agreements reflects the true state of affairs in South Viet Nam. The Soviet Government also supports the position of the Government of the Democratic Republic of Viet Nam as regards the above mentioned report of the International Commission, set out in its statement of the fourth of June and in the letter of the twentieth of June from the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Democratic Republic of Viet Nam to the Co-Chairmen.
§ 72. Mr. Harold Daviesasked the Lord Privy Seal whether, in view of the violations of the Geneva Agreements recorded in the Special Report of the International Commission on Vietnam, he will propose to the Russian Co-Chairman a re-summoning of the 1954 Geneva Conference, with special reference to the need to ensure the observance by all parties of the terms of the Geneva Agreements.
§ Mr. HeathNo. The present dangerous situation in Vietnam is caused by the fact that the Government 117W of North Vietnam is attempting to overthrow the Government of the South by armed interference and subversion. The problem would be solved if the Government of the North would cease this campaign.
§ 74. Mr. Rankinasked the Lord Privy Seal on how many occasions, since the Geneva Agreements were signed, Her Majesty's Government have requested the Soviet Co-Chairman to participate in a joint condemnation of the failure of one or the other party in Vietnam to comply with the Agreements, and made a request for steps to be taken to ensure a return to observance of the Agreements; and which was the party concerned on each occasion.
§ Mr. HeathOn 3rd November, 1961, Her Majesty's Government appealed to the Soviet Co-Chairman to join with us in sending a message to the North Vietnamese authorities calling upon them to desist from further subversive activities in South Vietnam, and on 14th June of this year Her Majesty's Government asked the Soviet Government to join with us in calling upon both North and South to return to a policy of co-operation with the International Control Commission. The Soviet Government did not respond to either of these approaches.
§ 75. Mr. Rankinasked the Lord Privy Seal if he will publish a summary of the findings of the International Commission for Vietnam, as reported from time to time, listing, in regard to the North and South Vietnamese authorities, respectively, the number of instances in which one party or the other has failed to comply with the provisions of the Geneva Agreements, or has not accorded the Commission full co-operation, or the necessary information or facilities to enable it to execute its tasks under the Agreements.