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University Daily Kansan Thursday, April 25,1963
Tension Spotlight Focuses On Laos
Tension Spotlight Focuses On Laos Leftists Shell Neutralists; Claim Rightist Buildup Thailand Welcomes US Combat Forces Kennedy Views Solution As Key to Other Issues
VIENTIANE, Laos—(UPI)—Renewed leftist shelling of neutralist positions on the Plain of Jars was reported today against a backdrop of mounting Communist claims of a U.S.-inspired rightist buildup.
An International Control Commission (ICC) team made another one-day flight to the battle zone on the plain in the continuing diplomatic effort to find a solution to the crisis.
Western observers considered the situation highly dangerous, with indications that Gen. Phoumi Nosavan's right-wing forces might be pulled into the dispute which heretofore has involved only the neutralists and pro-Communist Pathet Lao.
THE FRESH OUTBREAK of shelling was reported by a senior officer of Gen. Kong Le's neutralists who arrived this morning from the Plain of Jars for a brief leave. He said the Pathet Lao attacked Kong Le's position at Lat Hoang for an hour last night. Lat Hoang is located on the road from the Plain of Jars airfield to the important town of Xieng Khoung.
If the neutralist report was true, the shelling was the first break in the shaky cease-fire that has prevailed in the critical Plain of Jars region since Sunday.
Aside from the ICC team's visit to the Plain, there was little development here in the diplomatic maneuvering for a settlement. Diplomats looked to the visit to Moscow by U.S. Undersecretary of State W. Averell Harriman for the next move.
REPORTS FROM Washington and London said Harriman's mission was to remind Soviet Premier Nikita S. Khrushchev of his 1961 pledge to President Kennedy to maintain Premier Souvanna Phouma's coali-
KU Woman Places Second in Bowling
Betty Jo (BJ.) Hember, Fairway sophomore, placed second in the all-events division of the Women's National Intercollegiate Bowling Tournament held at Memphis, Tenn., this week.
Miss Member, who was the defending national champion in the playoffs, had a score of 1.069. Janet Sheridan, a student at the College of Education, Courtland. N. Y., was the winner with 1089 pins.
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ion government in power. Harrirman aimed to persuade Khrushchev to hold the Laotian and North Vietnamese Reds in check.
Russia and Britain are co-chairmen of the 1962 Geneva Conference which established Souvanna's government and guaranteed Lao's independence and neutrality. The conference also charged the ICC with supervising the truce that ended the two-year Laotian Civil War.
The U.S. diplomatic efforts were designed to prevent a Communist take-over in Laos. Communist control of the landlocked kingdom would open the way for possible Red Chinese intervention and Communist penetration of most of Southeast Asia.
AS A DETRIMENT to further Communist advances, the United States will dispatch 3,000 combat troops to neighboring Thailand next month. While the troops will participate in previously-scheduled exercises, the show of force is considered timely.
Communist news outlets renewed their charges that the United States is trying to foment a right-wing coup d'etat. The new China news agency broadcast charges by the Clandestine Pathet Lao Radio that "aircraft of the U.S. and Phoumi Nosavan Side airdropped arms and ammunition" to rightist guerrillas in Savannakhet Province.
Informed sources here said the ICC team was sent to the Plain of Jars to study the situation and to prepare for a meeting between Souvanna and his half-brother, Prince Souphanouvong, a vice premier and leader of the Pathet Lao. The meeting tentatively is set for Saturday.
The Pathet Lao claimed Nosavan, backed by the United States, sent guerrilla units into the Savannakhet towns of Muong Phoum and Na Nhom.
The North Vietnamese newspaper Nhan Dan charged that U.S. interference is the cause of continued tension in Laos. It told of alleged right-wing troop movements and claimed some of the troops were commanded by U.S. military advisers.
Earlier this week Nosavan, who also is a vice premier and strongman of the rightist faction, offered to send his troops to help Kong Le against the Pathet Lao. Yesterday his police took over key installations in Vientiane.
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A year ago, it was feared that forces of the Communist Pathet Lao would infiltrate northern Thailand. They were then operating near the Thai border.
BANGKOK — (UPI) — Thailand today welcomed the projected dispatch of about 3,000 U.S. combat forces to this country next month as a timely show of force in the wake of growing tension in Communist-threatened Laos.
Observers pointed out, however, the U.S. troops will participate in previously-planned war games sponsored by the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) and will not actually be stationed in Thailand as they were last year.
Thai officials have made it clear they feel there is not now a need for stationing U.S. troops in Thailand. These officials said the situations in Laos today and a year ago are different.
Now, however, the Laotian Reds are operating in central Laos and are not considered a danger to Thailand.
Bv. United Press International
Laos At A Glance
VIENTIANE, Los — Western observers report new left-shelling of neutralist positions on the Plain of Jars. Observers fear Gen. Phoumi Nosavan's right-wing forces may be pulled into the conflict. United States to move 3,000 troops into neighboring Thailand next month.
LONDON — U.S. Special Ambassador W. Averell Harriman left for Moscow, carrying a message to Soviet Premier Khrushchev from President Kennedy. Sources believe Harriman's mission was to remind Khrushchev of his pledge to help maintain peace in Laos.
WASHINGTON — President Kennedy keeps close watch on developments in Laos. Response of Russia to pleas for a Laotian cease-fire tied to U.S. hopes for better relations in other world trouble spots.
WASHINGTON —(UPI)— President Kennedy believes that if Russia fails to honor her commitments on Laos, the chances of settling Berlin and other cold war issues will be drastically reduced.
The President told his news conference yesterday he would withhold judgment until he heard from Undersecretary of State W. Averell Harriman, who has gone to Moscow to discuss the crisis with top Soviet officials.
His statement followed a Defense Department announcement that more than 3,000 U.S. troops would be dispatched to Thailand, just across the Mekong river from Laos, next month to take part in SEATO maneuvers.
THE PENTAGON also said one squadron of supersonic jet fighters, probably 18 planes, would be sent into Thailand by the Air Force. More than 30 ships of the eight SEATO nations already are assembling in the South China Sea for a naval exercise starting Monday.
Kennedy said the 14-nation Geneva agreement last year guaranteeing Laotian independence and neutrality was "a test of whether it is possible for an accord between countries which have serious differences . . . to be reached and maintained."
The President said, "If we fail in Laos, I would think the prospects
for accords on other matters which may be geographically closer to us would be substantially lessened."
He appeared to be challenging Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev to prove that his professed policy of "peaceful coexistence" had not been abandoned in Southeast Asia under pressure from Red China. He declined, however, to be drawn into a discussion on this aspect.
In reply to a question, Kennedy said that if Laos fell into Communist hands, it would increase the danger to Thailand, Cambodia, South Vietnam and Malaya.
Concern for stability of the whole Southeast Asia area is one of the reasons why the United States is so anxious to uphold the Geneva accord on Laos, he said. He added that it also may explain why "others" do not seem so anxious to uphold it.
The President said the situation in Southeast Asia directly involved Russia as a party to the Geneva agreement and that it had accepted responsibility for maintaining a neutral, independent Laos.
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