OCR
Oo for September 2 REPORT FROM SOUTH-KAST ASIA: THE FRENCH UNION.. Kecent déésussions between France onc the United States have once again centered international interest on those terribdorices of the French Union that lie in Asia. : The war in Indochina is discussed, as well as the general . opinion that France - by helping defend that territory - is adsing * a vital strategic effort in the frame of the total Asiatic ware There is however another and much more important aspect to the whole south-east Asiatic problem. What France is trying to do - vith the help of her allies - is not only to sustain an actual warfare against communist advance. It is evident indeed that, by arms alone, South-sast asia cannot be saved: Europe and the bnited States are far avay, while ned China, with its 500 million population" are at the Vietnam's border. The question France is raising now is to know whether A there exists a possibility to built up a South-sast asiatic blocp \ independent and strong enough to resist by itself that attempt of . Communist absorption. ; Ghina indeed is far from being liked in that part of Asias ¥or centuries, their civilizations have evolved in different direction and its smaller neighbors were used to look at a powerful and strongly populated China as being a hereditary enemy and a constant threat. . Today still, if South-sast asia is given a chance of maintaining and developing its own status, it will much rather chose that solution than absorption in a Far-nastem bloc, airected from veiping. e The understanding of that fundamental fact and of its implications explains the olicies of leading French statesmen > in their Asiatic planninge ihe indo-Chinese Federation; the Vietnam. it was three years in June ;thiat: Emperor Bao bai, former ruk of Annam, returned to Indochina, to become the head of the Vietnam State. suring these three the fight against Ho Chi Minh ana his tro ps had been continued. But at the same time, the reorganization of the country was started, and carried om along political, economic and socia& lines. Such reorganizationg means a huge effort and an unbreakable energy in a country that still is at war. In July, for example, the Franco-Vietnamese Military Committee met at Dalat. It was attended by Emperor Bao Dai, by the French Minister Hean Letourneau, by the Vietnamese Premier, his Depfifense Minister and the Chief of Staff.