Hanoi's Fabians

About the only thing in strike-bound Paris that seemed to be moving slower than the traffic last week was the peace parley on Viet Nam. U.S. and North Vietnamese negotiators held a single 2-hr. 57-min. session at the Hotel Majestic, then adjourned for four days. Hanoi was clearly bent on emulating the tactics of Fabius Cunctator (the delayer),* the Roman general who wore down the more powerful Hannibal by his endless harassing tactics. The long break was occasioned in part, a Hanoi spokesman explained, by the fact that Ascension Day was approaching, "and since we translate 'ascension' as 'escalation' in Vietnamese, we had better not meet on that day."

His comment was not entirely facetious. Hanoi doubled the rate of infiltration this year to at least 12,000 men a month, now has the equivalent of a dozen full divisions, or 80,000 men, in the South. If anything, fighting has intensified since talking began, particularly in northernmost I Corps. During the first week of the Paris negotiations, the U.S. suffered 549 battle deaths, the second highest toll of the war.

In addition to Hanoi's obvious desire to stall for time in hopes of strengthening its position on the battlefield, there are other reasons for the glacial pace of the talks. One is that the North Vietnamese clear even the most minuscule matters with Hanoi. They even had to exchange twelve cables before they were permitted to move from their expensive digs at the Hotel Lutetia to a 20-room suburban villa once occupied by the late French Communist boss Maurice Thorez. Hanoi hesitated out of fear: What would the Chinese Communists think of North Viet Nam's delegates moving into a villa owned by the openly pro-Soviet French Communists?

Another reason for delay may be that Hanoi hopes to take advantage of the U.S. presidential campaign to influence American policy and American public opinion. According to one theory current in Paris, the peace discussions will not achieve anything until the middle of August, after the Republican Convention and just before the Democratic Convention. The North Vietnamese don't like Richard Nixon but they like Lyndon Johnson even less; if there is progress in peace talks now, some of them suggest, they fear that Johnson will be drafted as the Democratic candidate, and they are anxious to keep that from happening.

Diminishing Returns. At one point, North Viet Nam's negotiators avowed that if the U.S. unconditionally halted the bombing "and other acts of war" against the North, the talks could turn to "a political settlement of the Viet Nam problem." That offer was soon followed by a threat. "In the event that these official conversations do not end in results," warned Chief Negotiator Xuan Thuy, "the American party must bear the full and entire responsibility."

From Hanoi's viewpoint, of course, the U.S. was stalling too. U.S. Negotiator Averell Harriman noted that the U.S. had fully expected Hanoi to use the talks, particularly in the early stages, to whip up worldwide pressure on the U.S. to halt its air raids against the North. "They wouldn't have come," said he, "unless they had expected more than propaganda out of this exercise." Accordingly, Harriman proposed that both sides get down to substantive and secret discussions. For the present, Hanoi has pooh-poohed the suggestion. Nevertheless, U.S. diplomats expect Hanoi to realize eventually that its propaganda tactics will bring diminishing returns--and at that point will begin to negotiate in earnest.

Deadliest Enemy. For his part, Lyndon Johnson last week broke his silence on the talks. He did so during a White House ceremony honoring the 26th Marine Regiment (one of the outfits that stormed Iwo Jima in 1945) for its gallantry in holding off the Communists at Khe Sanh. "It is still not clear that Hanoi is ready for an early or an honorable peace," said the President. But one thing, he added, should be unmistakably clear: "We shall not be defeated on the battlefield while the talks go on."

The President's words were almost a paraphrase of a statement issued last week by the Citizens Committee for Peace with Freedom in Viet Nam, a centrist group that includes former Senator Paul Douglas and ex-Presidents Dwight Eisenhower and Harry Truman. Noting that Ho Chi Minh considers negotiations "another weapons system," the committee cautioned that "impatience may be our deadliest enemy."

* It was Fabius who gave his name--and tactics--to the British Socialists who were committed to change by evolution rather than revolution.

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