The Bridge Builder

Less than two months ago, Cambodia's mercurial Prince Norodom Sihanouk was complaining that France had been more generous in giving aid to South Viet Nam than to his own country. Last week, after French Defense Minister Pierre Messmer journeyed to Pnompenh to present Sihanouk with tanks, trucks, aircraft and an invitation to visit Paris in the spring, the Prince allowed that France, after all, was one of Cambodia's "very rare true friends." Said Sihanouk: "We are convinced that only France can build a bridge between East and West."

Reuniting Viet Nam. So is Charles de Gaulle. Eager to re-establish France's influence in its old Indo-China colonies, France's President leaped at the opportunity to take over from the U.S. in Cambodia after Sihanouk canceled Washington's $30 million-a-year aid program.* Alone among U.S. allies in SEATO, France enthusiastically backed Sihanouk's demands for a Geneva conference guaranteeing Cambodia's neutrality (it is already guaranteed by the SEATO treaty). De Gaulle feels strongly that "stabilization of neutral regimes" is the best way to bulwark the peninsula against Communist China.

In Laos, another former colony where French influence is still strong, neutralization in practice only led to a virtual Communist takeover. Nonetheless, De Gaulle insists that the same solution could safeguard Viet Nam. Paris argues that Communist North Viet Nam's Ho Chi Minh is basically anti-Chinese and would gladly reunite his country with a neutralized South Viet Nam -- where, say the French, it is only a matter of time before the Americans lose the war against the Viet Cong.

Helping the U.S. Gaullists are also engaged in a cautious campaign to establish economic and diplomatic relations with Red China. While French diplomats warn loftily that China's isolation results in permanent East-West "disequilibrium," De Gaulle's primary aim is to stake out a rich new market for France's heavy industrial goods, which are beginning to feel the cold winds of Common Market competition.

Former (1955) Premier Edgar Faure, who represented De Gaulle on a recent exploratory mission to Peking, hinted last week that France would soon recognize Red China; with support from France's former African colonies, Peking would probably then have little trouble winning a U.N. seat. Thus, pronounced Faure, France could end the "impasse" caused by Washington's refusal to recognize Peking, and render the U.S. a "great service." The State Department icily demurred.

* Though most U.S. personnel have already left Cambodia, Sihanouk changed his mind at week's end and asked Washington to complete several aid projects started in 1963.

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