And Now, Reconstruction

VIET NAM

DESPITE the proclamation of a ceasefire, Communist gunners last week shot down a U.S. helicopter near An Loc, injuring five American crew men. Armed clashes between Communist and South Vietnamese troops were running at about 150 a day. Air raids over the jungles of Laos by American B-52 bombers and fighter-bombers actually increased to an astonishing 380 strikes each day. Yet such are the bewildering juxtapositions of the Indochina conflict that, at the same time, Henry Kissinger moved through Hanoi and Peking suggesting plans to heal the wounds of war through a pharmacopoeia of economic aid.

President Nixon had first proposed that the U.S. "undertake a massive $7.5 billion five-year reconstruction program" for all of Indochina as part of an American peace plan one year ago. Last week Kissinger and Hanoi's leaders took the first concrete step toward setting such a program in motion. After three days of what a communique termed "frank, serious and constructive" talks, they announced agreement on the creation of a Joint Economic Commission to survey North Viet Nam's reconstruction needs (see box page 18) and disburse the funds when -- and if -- the U.S. Congress agrees to provide them.

Stares. The need for reconstruction was obvious from the moment Kissinger arrived in the city that the U.S. had so recently bombed. His blue and white presidential 707 was forced to land at a military airbase well outside the city because the runway at Hanoi's Gia Lam airport is too short. The area surrounding Hanoi's airfield is leveled, and many bridges are still out. The 30-minute motorcade of curtained black Russian sedans had to cross a plank-covered steel pontoon bridge over the Red River to enter Hanoi.

Kissinger himself did not see much bomb damage. He and his team occupied a high-ceilinged yellow stucco house, once the residence of the French administrator of Tonkin, with a formal garden graced by peach and plum blossoms in bloom. Walking along the shores of Hoan Kiem Lake, Kissinger was the object of stares from passersby, but none approached him. He was impressed by the city's quiet, where the street traffic consists mainly of bicycles.

Sipping tea at the Presidential Palace, Premier Pham Van Dong and Kissinger's familiar Paris adversary Le Duc Tho spent some of their time with the American in replaying the Paris talks, trying to assess each other's motives and tactics. They smiled often, obviously respecting each other's professional skills. There were few recriminations about the war. Instead there were realistic analyses of the problems that lie ahead.

Specifically, Kissinger worked at measures for stopping the cease-fire violations and for further checks on missing Americans, but the main emphasis was on reconstruction. The Joint Commission, which is expected to begin its work in about a month, will be based in Hanoi but may hold some of its meetings in Washington. Although its creation reflects a spirit of reconciliation, it is not entirely an instrument of charity. Quite bluntly, Kissinger made it clear in Hanoi that U.S. aid is conditional upon the Communists' observing the terms of the truce settlement.

The agreement on a commission did not resolve deep differences between Washington and Hanoi over how reconstruction will be accomplished. The North Vietnamese leaders argued that Hanoi must have complete control over the disbursement of aid funds. "They want to decide where, for what and how much," reported a U.S. diplomat. Kissinger insisted, however, that neither U.S. law nor the U.S. Congress would allow foreign-aid money to be spent without some direction from Washington and some proof of its effective use. Also still at issue is whether the U.S. will channel its funds through some multinational agency, as Washington prefers, or directly to the Joint Commission, as Hanoi wishes. Hanoi apparently hopes to play off various world powers against each other by making bilateral arrangements with each.

Kissinger and the North Vietnamese also remained in disagreement over how U.S. aid would be handled in rebuilding South Viet Nam. The Communists want it to go to the still to be created National Council of National Reconciliation and Concord, on which the Viet Cong will be represented. Washington supports the argument of South Viet Nam's President Nguyen Van Thieu that this would make the Council more of a governing body than the truce agreement permits and that Thieu's government must receive the funds. But just how aid to South Viet Nam would reach areas under Communist control remains a problem.

Postwar reconstruction and reconciliation was also a major topic as Kissinger flew into Peking. It was his fifth mission to the Chinese capital, and familiarity made the atmosphere more cordial than in Hanoi. He spent a few hours in conversation with Chairman Mao Tse-tung. In long talks with Premier Chou Enlai, Kissinger persisted in his argument that all foreign aid to Viet Nam should go through an international agency, while the Chinese prefer giving their help directly to the recipient. Kissinger further urged Chou to help guarantee the still elusive peace in Viet Nam. Each probed the other's intentions for the impending 13-party international guarantee conference, which will begin in Paris next week. A main aim of the conference is to create a means of acting on any violations of the cease-fire that are reported by the International Commission of Control and Supervision, which has yet to become fully operational.

Kissinger's wide-ranging Peking talks also touched on Taiwan, as he reminded Chou that this is now primarily a problem between the two Chinese regimes. Kissinger told Chou that the U.S. intends soon to remove most of its token 9,000-man military force from Taiwan since it served primarily in logistic support of U.S. operations in Viet Nam. Kissinger reminded Chou, however, that the U.S.-Taiwan defense treaty will nonetheless remain in effect.

In both Hanoi and Peking, Kissinger pressed the Communists to help achieve a cease-fire in Laos and Cambodia. The substance of those discussions remained secret, and there were few signs of definite progress. The week ended without the predicted truce in Laos. Some 67,000 North Vietnamese troops there still seemed determined to try to seize as much land as possible, while the U.S. unleashed its bombers with what looked like the same kind of punitive pressure it had applied in North Viet Nam.

The U.S. reportedly has urged the government of Premier Souvanna Phouma not to accede to any new demands from the Communist Pathet Lao and to seek a cease-fire based on the same principles as the Paris peace settlement for Viet Nam.

It was obvious that many difficulties remained in securing an effective end to the fighting in Indochina before any reconstruction efforts could begin. Even then, there remained some serious doubts as to whether Congress will authorize the spending of billions in Southeast Asia at a time when domestic programs are being sharply restricted. Even the amount of money Nixon will seek has not been revealed. High Washington officials insisted that his previous estimate of $7.5 billion, of which $2.5 billion would be spent in North Viet Nam, was only a "ballpark," talking figure at the time, not to be taken too seriously.

Some Senators and Congressmen are particularly opposed to helping North Viet Nam, such a recent enemy of the U.S., at all. "They'll be ice skating in hell the day I vote any assistance for that bunch of murderers in Hanoi," declared Ohio's Democratic Congressman Wayne L. Hays. Some Democrats want to use their refusal to vote Indochina aid as a club to force Nixon to yield in his running battle with Congress over his impounding of funds already appropriated. Even such a longtime supporter of foreign aid as Minnesota's Democratic Senator Hubert Humphrey said he cannot support the rebuilding of Haiphong while part of Washington, D.C., remains unreconstructed since the race riots of 1968.

Yet despite such opposition, the moral obligation of the U.S. seems clear. Much of the destruction and refugee dislocation was caused by U.S. bombs --and the cease-fire agreement commits the U.S. to pay. Besides, the precedent of American postwar compassion is plain: A nation willing to help rebuild Germany after Hitler would seem unlikely in the long run to refuse aid to North Viet Nam. There are also strong practical arguments for aid, since it would maintain some U.S. influence, as against that of Russia and China, and could turn the rival forces to peaceful pursuits in accordance with the truce settlement. Senate Republican Leader Hugh Scott may be right in his prediction that "after everyone has made his pitch," then Congress probably will approve the money for reconstruction.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.