As Saigon Sees It

Everyone expects that, if peace negotiations do get started, the Communists will be difficult to deal with. What many Americans forget, however, is that the U.S.'s South Vietnamese allies are not likely to sit back meekly while their fate is being decided. Last week, in the wake of President Johnson's dual decisions not to run for re-election and to curtail bombing of the North, Saigon's mood was one of deep apprehension. Despite U.S. protestations that it would not abandon Viet Nam, the country's leaders worried about what course the U.S. might take in peace talks and began rethinking how South Viet Nam should react to any drastic shift in the American commitment.

Wrestling with private misgivings. South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu publicly supported Johnson's bombing restrictions and the preliminary talks with Hanoi. But he also made it plain that South Viet Nam would try to go it alone if the U.S. withdrew support. Said he: "If the U.S. is no longer able to help us, I will appeal to other allied nations such as South Korea, the Philippines, Thailand, Australia and New Zealand to help us." Privately, President Thieu warned U.S. Ambassador Ellsworth Bunker that South Viet Nam reserved the right to repudiate any political agreement that the U.S. might reach with Hanoi.

"No Mister!" Mercurial Vice President Nguyen Cao Ky was far mon outspoken. Asked by a reporter if South Viet Nam was willing to make any concessions in order to facilitate a peace settlement, he shot back, "No, Mister!"He was also adamant on the issue that troubles the South Vietnamese most: that the U.S. will try to force them to form a coalition government with the Viet Cong. Cried Ky: "If we have now arrived at the stage where we have to accept coalition under American pressure, that means we are going to die in the next five or six months, or at least lose the country. So it is better to lose it fighting. At least we would die with a clear conscience."

The 60-man South Vietnamese Senate, which is heavily Catholic, passed a declaration that bombing restrictions should be the final allied gesture of good will toward the North, and 30 pro-Thieu Senators issued a statement calling the American initiative "a surrender concession." Twenty-one independent members of the House of Representatives called for more bombing, not less. Most of the South Vietnamese press also warned the people to brace for a sellout. "Washington," said the Saigon daily Cong Chung, "is following in the tracks of the French."

Display of Independence. Many South Vietnamese were annoyed that the new U.S. initiatives came at a time when Thieu, at U.S. prodding, was just beginning to combat corruption. In re cent weeks he has fired some 100 major officials, including nearly one-third of the country's 43 province chiefs and two of the four army corps commanders. He has also stepped up the draft in order to raise army strength by 135,000 men and accelerated part-time military training for university students. Though he probably will accept sooner or later, Thieu at first held off saying yes to President Johnson's invitation to come to Washington; he thus hoped to show his fellow countrymen that he is no American puppet.

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