THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF 24 JUNE 1971

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: President's Daily Brief 1969-1977
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0005992715
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 12
• Document Creation Date: August 14, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 24, 2016
• Publication Date: June 24, 1971

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The President's Daily Brief
24 June 1971
47
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FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY '
THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF
24 June 1971
PRINCIPAL DEVELOPMENTS
Le Duc Tho, Hanoi's senior negotiator at the Paris
talks, is scheduled to return to Paris today after
an absence of over a year. (Page 1)
On Page 2 we review the latest developments in the
fighting northeast of Phnom Penh.
In Laos, the Communists are shifting their forces
to meet the threat from yang Pao's irregulars on the
Plaine des Jarres. (Page 3)
On Page 4 we discuss Chou En-lai's relatively con-
ciliatory comments to US newsmen earlier this week.
Pakistan
/ (Page 5)
King Husayn says he will request a UN Security Coun-
cil meeting on Jerusalem next month. (Page 6)
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FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
NORTH VIETNAM
Le Duc Tho, Hanoi's senior negotiator at the
Paris talks, will return to Paris today after an ab-
sence of over a year, according to .a statement to
newsmen yesterday by the North Vietnamese delegation.
Tho was said to be going in his role as "special ad-
viser" to the delegation; it was not stated how long
he would stay.
Tho, a politburo member, participated in
the negotiations in late 1968 that Zed to
the US bombing halt and to the expanded
quadripartite format at the talks. In
February. 1970, after an absence of seven
months, Tho returned to Paris for the
French party congress and stayed on,for
nine weeks, but nothing of consequence
emerged at the talks. For the past few
days he has been in Moscow, seemingly on
his way back to Hanoi from the East German
party congress.
Tho's return to Paris comes at a time when
the North Vietnamese are most unlikely to
believe there is any prospect of nudging
the talks forward in some meaningful way.
His return might be part of Hanoi's effort
to encourage American critics of US policy
who argue that setting a troop withdrawal
date is the way to end US involvement in
Vietnam and to free American prisoners.
Now that the US Senate has passed a reso-
lution calling for a troop withdrawal
deadline linked to release of the pris-
oners, the Communists may be ready to
'float a more specific commitment tore-
lease prisoners in response to curtailment
of US involvement in Vietnam. Hanoi might
calculate that such an offer would place
the Nixon administration in an awkward
position, stimulate support fora with-
drawal deadline, and have an unsettling
effect in South Vietnam.
On the other hand, Tho may simply sit still
in Paris as he did early last year in the
hope that his mere presence will be enough
to generate fresh prepsures on Washington
and Saigon.
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Phnom Penh Area
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CAMBODIA
Northeast of Phnom Penh, troops from a Khmer
Krom brigade linked up with elements of the two be-
sieged government battalions at Kompong Chamlang
yesterday. Before breaking through, however, they
encountered stiff resistance near the village of
Phum Dol, a few miles northwest of Kompong Chamlang.
The two government battalions at nearby Kompong Am-
p11 abandoned their positions on 20 June and moved
to Kompong Chamlang.
Preliminary casualty reports say six government
troops were killed and some 60 wounded--including a
Khmer Krom? regimental commander--in fighting on 22
and 23 June. Communist losses were estimated to be
nearly 150 killed.
The Khmer Krom troops evidently occupied the
former command post of the 272nd Regiment of the
Communist 9th Division near Phum Dol yesterday, cap-
turing munitions and other supplies. According to
radio direction finding, the 272nd's headquarters
has moved to Kompong Cham Province some 15 miles
north of Phum Dol.
Radio direction finding shows that the head-
quarters of the 9th Division has now moved some ten
miles northeast of the Kompong Chamlang - Kompong
Ampil sector, but its subordinate 95C Regiment ap-
parently is still in a position to oppose the ?gov-
ernment drive if the Communists are determined to
prolong their month-old offensive northeast of Phnom
Penh.
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LAOS: Plaine des Jarres
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FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
LAOS
The Communists are making some shifts in their
forces east of the Plaine des Jarres to meet the
threat from yang Pao's irregulars now on Phou Theung
mountain. An intercept of 19 June indicates that the
North Vietnamese 316th Division plans to establish a
"command section" in the Ban Tham area. A battalion
from the 312th Division's 209th Regiment has also
moved to a position east of the Plaine, near its
regimental headquarters.
Intercepts in early May had suggested that
the 209th might be pulling out of Laos,
but the new location of these elements
puts them in position to support any North
Vietnamese counterattack on yang Pao's
irregulars.
Irregular units have moved northward in
recent days to take several high ground
positions in the south-central Plaine and
have also destroyed numerous enemy suppZy.
caches. yang Pao's moves onto the Plains
are intended in part to protect the flank
of other units that have been trying to
take Phou Seu on the Plaine's western edge.
In addition to such tactical considerations,
he seems to feel he has a mandate from
Souvanna Phouma and King Savang to retake
as much territory as possible.
Souvanna and the King view gains in the
north as compensation for setbacks in the
south and as having the effect of strength-
ening the government's negotiating position.
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COMMUNIST CHINA - US
Chou En-lai's comments to American newsmen in Peking
Monday on Sino-US relations, while offering nothing
substantively new, were presented in the most con-
ciliatory tone since the "Bandung" days of the mid-
1950s.
Chou focused on the American military presence on
Taiwan and in the Taiwan Strait as the key problem
between China and the US. If US forces were with-
drawn and Washington no longer "considers Chiang
Kai-shek the representative of China," he said, all
other problems would be solved and the establishment
of diplomatic relations with Washington would fol-
low. It would not even be necessary, according to
Chou, for the US to acknowledge Peking's sovereignty
over Taiwan because a US withdrawal from the island
would be "tacit recognition" of the People's Republic
as the only lawful Chinese government. Chou reaf-
firmed Peking's rejection of any "two Chinas, or
one China one Taiwan" formulations.
Chow's approach to Sino-US differences was -meant to
suggest that these differences are relatively narrow
and could be resolved without 'a complete overturn:-of
US-positions. For example, he studiously avoided
mention-of-the US defense treaty with Nationalist
China, Chou-said that Sind-US-contacts would
tinue to develop--at least ?at the unofficial level--
even .in--the absence of an agreement on Taiwan.- He.
stated that- a- Chinese table tennis team was preparing
to-be the first delegation to go-to the US, and that
his government was- also-considering sendingthe Pe-
king Opera Ballet.
While trying to-improve-further the atmospherics:sur-
rounding.Sino-US bilateral issues, Peking clearly-is-
not giving anything away on the Taiwan issue; and-
Chinese public and private' statements make it clear
that this issue-will-remain-China's first order of-
business with-the US.
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PAKISTAN
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King Husayn
will request a UN Security. Council meeting on the
Jerusalem situation next month,
He said that Spain has agreed to
present the case, and that the French, whose repre-
sentative will preside in July, will also back Jor-
dan. The King claims assurances of Vatican support,
too.
JORDAN-ISRAEL
An extensive airing of the question, whether
or not it resulted in a condemnation of
Israel, is not likely to alter Israel's
fundamental policy of integrating Arab
Jerusalem into Israel and would probably
stiffen Israel's unyielding position con-
cerning arrangements leading to a peace
settlement.
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NOTE
USSR: The Soviets may plan to recover the
Soyuz 11 spacecraft tomorrow after setting an en-
durance record of 19 days for manned spaceflight.
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