Towards a Neo-colony?

‘If the United States has always proclaimed that it intervened in Indochina in order to defend _ the West against Communism, this is not its real motivation.

For instance, the involvement of the USAin ~\ support of French imperialism in the First War of Indochina was clearly explained by Eisenhower in 1953‘ ‘Let us suppose that we lose Indochina ... the tin and tungsten of this region would stop coming... Therefore, when the USA votes a credit of § 400,000,000 to help the war, that’s not a waste of money. We vote for the cheapest means to prevent events with bad implications for the States, for their security, our power and ability to obtain material we need, the wealth of the Indo-~ ~ chinese countries and of South East Asia.’ This has been stressed time and time again. In 1968 the president of the Bank of America and Nixon’s adviser, Rudolph A. Peterson stated that: ‘There is not a larger and richer country for the development of resources and commercial extension in the world today than this immense region.’ (California. Business Magazine Sept.—Oct:..1968). More recently, the discovery of important sources of fuel on both sides of the 17th Parallel has prdvided another powerful incentive for the US to stay in the region. - SHIFT INSTRATEGY The:fundamental project of the USA in this part of the world has been to maintain SouthEast Asia in the capitalist orbit, but the strategy can change. Once, John Foster Dulles stated: ‘There are two ways to conquer a _ foreign nation. Either to control its people by the means of armed occupation, or to win the control of its economy through pasted means,”

The US has had to renounce the former path because of one of the strongest liberation movements in history. That was shown by the analysis of the Pentagon Papers summed up recently by Daniel Ellsberg before his judges: ‘the Pen- | tagon Papers show that the USA could not overcome in Vietnam, for the part of the population which resisted the occupation was so determined, so well led, so confident and even receiving the support of the other part of the population, that it was impossible to control the whole territory without liquidating the whole population of South-Vietnam.’ The US government’s understanding of the imposst bility of military success in Indochina explains the change towards China.

Hence the new strategical project in Indochina: to establish a neo-colonial system, To achieve this, the already ‘gigantic’ financial help to South Vietnam has been increasing. For instance, economic assistance to Thieu from June *72 to June ’73 wil! be about § 510 millions and this will increase for ’73 to ’74; to 748 millions (US News & World Report). This money is directed at financing important projects where US imperialism will have a controlling share in the future. The “Mekong project’ is one of them: 28 dams on the Mekong River Vietcong suspect is executed. are to be built to produce electricity for Southern Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia. DICTATORSHIPS But in order to achieve these economic results, the USA must first strengthen the dictatorships - in the different countries of Indochina. One can see the role of organisations such as the AID (Agency for International Development, in fact a cover for the CIA as so many examples in Latin America have shown) in the ‘plans for refugees’ as they are modestly called: This involves the building of strategical bases or concentration camps and jails; e.g. the ‘Phoenix -Program’ which officially aims to neutralise the FNL apparatus. “As the parliamentary commisision of the Phoenix Program stated in July 1971: ‘The dollars of the income-taxea Americans have allowed the development of the police and para-military units who arrest suspects.’ One of the ‘pillars’ of the Phoenix Program, Intelligence Officer K.B. Osborn, said openly: ‘Personally, during one year and a half, I haven’t known anybody, arrested as a Vietcong suspect, who has survived.’

The measures taken by the US government since the Paris ‘Agreements’ also mean the reinforcement of the military dictatorship of Thieu. Before the signature of the treaty, the US built up its supplies to such an extent that today the South Vietnamese Air Force is the third largest in the world. In April of this year, US News and World Report mentioned that tanks and other material were rusting because of the lack of technicians compared with the amount of material! Nixon has foreseen this possibility: 10,000 ‘technicians’ will be staying in Vietnam. To replace US forces, the American government expects help from its allies. The Israeli paper Maariv reported on 18 December, 1972, that encircling Indochina as soon as the troop withdrawals began. Thailand now has 54,000 Gls, the Seventh Fleet has 60,000, there are 18,400 in the Philippines, 14,000 in Guam Island, one of the main B-52 bases, and 6,000 in Taiwan. One must also include the 25,000 in.Hawaii, and finally 75,000 who are stationed in Japan. Ttoal: 252,400 soldiers ready to intervene in Indochina!

NO TRUCE IN OUR SUPPORT Although Nixon has signed the treaty, the anti-imperialist movement throughout the world cannot trust this war criminal. In fact,.even if the actual strategy is to-strengthen the police regime of Thieu, the bombing of the North _ Vietnamese dikes (June—July, 1972), the bombing of Hanoi and Haiphong last December, and the even more intensive bombing of Cambodia have proved that Nixon still believes in the efficiency of such means. The anti-im perialist movement, emphasising the actual reinforce- ° ment of the Saigon regime, must be vigilant that the 27 January agreement is not violated:

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‘Israel will soon provide tactical assistance to the Saigon army in co-ordination with the USA’. A further move was to strengthen the bases