HANOI VIEW: KISSINGER FLURRY MEANS LITTLE

Document Type: 
Collection: 
Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 
CIA-RDP80-01601R000300360005-8
Release Decision: 
RIPPUB
Original Classification: 
K
Document Page Count: 
1
Document Creation Date: 
December 9, 2016
Document Release Date: 
November 17, 2000
Sequence Number: 
5
Case Number: 
Publication Date: 
October 6, 1972
Content Type: 
NSPR
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PDF icon CIA-RDP80-01601R000300360005-8.pdf141.3 KB
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STATINTL CtjR'TS'!`'l`TArr SC1I'.1CE MONITOR STATINAlpproved For Release 2001/03/04 PCWZP80-01601F Vietnam peace rumors sprout once again as Henry Kissinger darts back and forth to Paris, as his depu- ty, General.11aig, returns from talks with President Thieu, and as candidates Nixon and Agnew. drop hints along the campaign trail. Is agreement really in the offing? ` No, ' in essence, is the answer of the Coiilmunist delegates to the Paris peace talks: Louis wiziaitzer, just back from extensive interviews with them in Paris, explains their point of view. (Mr. Wiz- nitzer, U.S.- correspondent for Mlontre al's French-la.n- gua,e daily La Presse, has had numerous previous, discussions 'with North Vietnamese officials in recent .years,' and has visited. North and South Vietnam.) 'Meanwhile; Takashi Oka reports from Paris (Page 2) that the peace 'talks indeed appear stalled. By Louis W'iznitzer . ends by playing "the democratic game," tb The Christian Science Monitor that is by insisting on their formula for a Paris tripartite government in Saigon and on having elections held at a near date In c~ No settlement of the Vietnam war South Vietnam under independent aus is likely before the American presidential. pices - but continuing to fight until they election on Nov. 7, or indeed at any time get this. They believe, further, they can in the near future. continue to hold out against bombing and o ? The North Vietnamese and the Viet blockade until they do get what they Cong see presidential adviser Henry want. Kissinger's secret talks with North Viet- Private talks with the principal North namese Politburo member Le Due Tho as Vietnamese and Viet Cong representa- more a part of the American election fives here, Xuan Thuy and Mrs. Nguyen campaign than of American willingness Thi Binh, have led this writer to the to reach a compromise acceptable to above conclusions - some of them their side. inference - b dl itt d y y m e a . o The North Vietnamese and the Viet Against this background, Cong go along with the Kissinger-Le Due deadlock at the latest round Tho talks to prove to Peking and Moscow North Vietnamese and Viet Cong willing- Vietnam peace talks here t b fler-'b'e - which is what the should be no surprise. e continued of weekly Thursday nCSS o - Chinese and the Russians have urged. Discussing Dr. Kissinger's earlier se- them to be. cret talks here with Le Due Tho, the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong repre- s The need to prove this flexibility sentatives say privately Air. Kissinger's now may be all the greater because the visits to Paris are a "propaganda ploy." North Vietnamese and the Viet Cong are Lyndon Johnson, they say, used crude probably planning a new offensive. methods to convey the impression that he a The sticking point in the Kissinger- was searching for a diplomatic solution. Le Due Tho talk's is not so much the He used to state the number of miles that person of South Vietnamese President he or Dean Rusk had journeyed "in Thieu as the conflict between the two search of peace." sides over long-term political control of Air. Nixon, they say, resorts to more South Vietnam. The North Vietnamese sophisticated techniques: hints, under- and the Viet Cong want to irrevocably statements, and even secrecy are used to bolt the door against an American return give people the impression that "some- to Vietnam (after American withdrawal) thing is going on in Paris." If the Americans subsequently see things Main iSSUeS skirted? for them going politically the wrong way in South Vietnam. hope that he may then announce, directly or by ways of leaks, that an area of agreement had been reached." But in fact, they say, nothing has been settled at all. - Why then do the Communists go along with this ploy and agree to be a party tp purportedly sterile discussions? Although they will not say this and although they absolutely refuse to specu- late on their military operations, the. most informed guess is that they are about to launch a new military offensive in the South. Because of this they apparently are anxious to show their reluctant Soviet and Cliinese suppliers that they are not intransigent, that they remain willing to talk whip shooting, , that they are flexible and realistic and therefore not unworthy of their allies' assistance. The nub of the ma.t.er, as far as negotiations are concerned, remains what it has always been: (1) Who will rule South Vietnam in the near future? And (2) Who will run it in the distant future? Although Xuan Thuy and Mrs. Nguyen Thi Binh do not say as much, it is this reporter's impression that South Viet- namese President Thieu is not really the main issue. Rather, his political future is a smokescreen behind which both sides are fencing over a bigger issue. The Sept. 11 statement from the Viet Cong refers to President Thiau's depar- ture less specifically than in the past, even though the Viet Cong still insists privately that he must go But the Viet Cong has always stated that policies counted, not personalities. Thus it is.-conceivable that If what they call Saigon's "repressive apparatus" (concentration camps, police, cen- sorship) were dismantled, they might not object to a Saigon administration within which General Thieu was a member of a tripartite government. And, just as the Viet Cong may not be really after General Thieu's head, so President Nixon might not be Irrevocably opposed to dumping him. What the U.S. Government has opposed so far is a tripartite govern- ment which it sees as a device for a Communist take-over. The Viet Cong are confident that time Most of the time, they say, Air. Kiss- is on their side and that they can afford to roger avoids discussing the main prob- play "the democratic game." The chips, Cong bell lA c~ Re~eta re 2 ~ a'Ct ~JP, to ]~fa~Vl 1 ~ 3~dv l1fa11ot11e2S way, in several C OnbtUiUnt tbo Ci