Rings around Laos

Into Washington came a cry for succor from a kingdom even more distant than Jordan. The supplicant: the royal government of Laos, whose small territory is bordered on the north by Red China, on the northeast by Communist North Viet Nam. Laos' plea: the U.S., along with Brit ain and France, should reaffirm its support of the Laos government against Communist pressure--particularly from the two Communist-controlled provinces in northeastern Laos. Reason: under the terms of the 1954 Geneva agreement which ended the Indo-China War, the two Red provinces were to have been reintegrated with the mother country.

Instead, charged independent Laos, the Communists have in effect demanded that the free section of the country move into the Communist orbit as the price of integration. For example, the Reds want the independents to accept aid and technical advice from the Chinese Communists and to create a coalition government in which the Communists would get such posts as minister of interior and defense. Moreover, the Communists have been attacking the government's outlying posts, apparently to create pressure for acceptance of their conditions.

From Washington last week came word that Laos had got the reassurance it needs. Gist of the State Department note (similar ones went out from Britain and France): the U.S. continues to support the authority of the royal government "over all its territory" and "welcomes the firmness" with which it has resisted the Communist reintegration terms. Net effect of the reassurances: to put the Communists on notice that any dirty work in Laos could easily bring down on them the full force of the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization.

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