Show BACKGROUND ASIA Years of Colonial Rule Made Indochina Easy Propaganda Mark Set Up Communist Victory at Br I WALTER BEAn B nt HUDI w. w mint TO 0 GET at the real crux of what x happened and what wha Is happening happening happen happen- ing in n Indochina or In the whole of South Asia for that matter one must lift a backdrop of centuries of colonial rule and exploitation of peoples and resources by the western west west- ern em powers The civil war against the French which started in Vietnam In 1948 1946 was a manifestation of the general unrest among the peoples of South Asia which has resulted 1 In the Independence of India which has been given dominion status by the British 2 the independence of Indonesia which won freedom from the Dutch and 3 self rule in Burma Bur Bur- ma ma though not complete Independence ence once from Britain This sweep weep of nationalism has won also a measure of self tile in the federated Malay states tates r r French Indochina is 11 made up of the two independent kingdoms of Laos and Cambodia which date back centuries and Vietnam which Is a federation of the dates of Tonkin Ton kin in the north of Annam a former former for for- mer kingdom in the center and the former French colony of na In th the south all aU within the French Union Of these three Vietnam is the more important with a tion of some 23 m million Uon Laos conn contains con taina 1 million with about about 3 million in Cambodia A million or orto or orso to so Chinese Chinee live in Vietnam most of them around Chol Saigon in A lar number large number of Thai and Moi Mol and ot other er tribal people pea peo pIe live In in Inthe the mountains of the central regions So the total population lation is around 29 million people r alternately squeezed 1 nd scattered over square miles an area a third one larger than France and twice the size of the British Isles The Vietnamese have their own language structure of government system of education religion and family patterns Centuries of infiltration have left the tho population however a tangle of Influence mostly Chinese In Laos and Cambodia Cam bodia their culture and traditions are symbolized in magni magnificent cent temples tern tem pIes ples and the ruins of dating back to Indian Inspiration The truth of the matter is is that as a result of so many mallY centuries of colonial rule these peoples in south Asia who seek to revive and reassert their own cultural and historic his tonic traditions have been easy prey to the propaganda the promises promise of agrarian reform and the help of Russian Communism and more recently recently re reo re- re of Red Chinese communism Despite the fact that in 1949 France which has held complete sway over Indochina since 1888 1886 and parts of it since 1858 promised Independence independence in In- dependence to Vietnam It was comparatively comparatively com com- easy for the Moscow trained Red Chinese leader Ho chi MInh to sway the nationalist leaders lead ers era of the rebellious Vietnamese into accepting aid from Red China in their fight for freedom A year ago alo in July 1953 the French signed a pact with Bao Da Dai Dat former emperor emperor em em- of Annam and now chief of tate state of Vietnam for complete independence in dependence of his country once a stable government was assured However the communists were able to prevent any stable government and the French and Vietnamese troops were routed and forced to move move out of Hanoi the capital leaving the Reds in full fuU control of the northern section of the country What happened it nt Geneva merely merely merely mere mere- ly made the French defeat official and more gained a partition of the country about midway down the narrow neck near the town of Hue Rue Insofar as a. the French F ench were were concerned con it was a peace at any price for the new French premier Mr Mendes France It was a disastrous defeat for the western powers and another communist victory in the Far East in the continuing battle to keep Co Communistic Imperialism from winning by erosion more territory territory ter ter- in that part of the world Orld It means that approximately 13 million mil mU lion more people in north and central central cen Vietnam are art today behind theiron the theiron theiron iron curtain as lIS a result of the ratification rati at the Geneva conference in which our country together with Britain France Russia and Rod fled China participated The question now arises will the Chinese Reds and their Moscow allies be content and permit the rest of Indochina to work out their independence from the French The answer of course is a well known No for the pattern of Communist aggression does docs not work in that fashion Secretary of State John Foster Dulles early this year pointed out the danger of any successful communist com corn coupe in Indochina He said ald The tragedy would not stop there If the communist forces won uncontested control over Indochina or any substantial part thereof they would surely resume the same pat pal pattern tern of aggression against other free peoples in the area The propagandists of Red China and Russia make it apparent that the purpose Is to dominate all aU of southeast Asia President Eisenhower himself expressed expressed ex ex- pressed his concern over possible loss of Indochina to the Reds as one of transcendent importance So the process of erosion will con conS conStine tine And at this writing it appears it may continue unchecked in the Far East lest we beco ie e Involved in a shooting war either unilaterally unilaterally ally aUy or with our western estern allies alUe against Red China i In the meantime the fate of the rest ret of f Indochina of Th Thailand lland of Burma of Malaya and the rest of the underbelly of the Asian continent continent conti nent hangs in the balance el a. 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