The Honest Broker

Wrapping the. tattered cloak of experience about them, the British stepped forward in the role of the honest broker and wise counselor. Question was: Can a man be an honest broker to a bad bargain? The broker's solution for the rot infecting Indo-China was partition of the country. That solution the British hoped to get at Geneva. Until they got it, or it proved impossible to get, they refused to discuss the future. "Our immediate task is to do everything we can to reach an agreed settlement at Geneva for the restoration of peace in Indo-China," Winston Churchill told Parliament. "Until the outcome of the conference is known, no final decision can be taken on a collective defense pact in Southeast Asia . . . Her Majesty's government has not embarked on any negotiations involving commitments," and would not until after Geneva.

Churchill's statement, and Eden's busy activity at Geneva, made clear that the British have very different aims from the French and U.S. The allies are still apart. Last week France urgently asked the U.S. under what conditions it might be willing to intervene to help the French if 1) the military situation deteriorated rapidly; 2) if the Chinese intervened openly; 3) if no settlement was reached at Geneva. Anthony Eden was both agitated by the question and angered at being left out. He rushed off to see U.S. Under Secretary of State Walter Bedell Smith. If the U.S. intervenes militarily in Indo-China and the result is world war, said Eden, Britain would have to be on the U.S. side. But he warned that if the U.S. intervenes and the fighting remains localized, Britain would remain aloof--even if the Chinese retaliated by openly joining the fighting.

Britain, Eden emphasized, is not interested in intervening in Indo-China under any circumstances. The British are willing to talk about a Southeast Asian pact after Geneva, but only a pact designed to guarantee what may be left of a partitioned Indo-China as a kind of buffer state--not to help the French fight on. Partition must come first.

In refusing to talk about the future until something happens at Geneva, the British ignored or refused to recognize the possibility that the Communists might drag out the talks indefinitely, as they did at Panmunjom--and more profitably. Last week the Communists seemed to be quite content to bleed France a little whiter, in the hope that such bleeding would make the French more pliable.

By delay, the Communists could also take military advantage of the free man's own virtues--his reluctance to squander life unnecessarily if there is a chance of peace, his sense of honest dealing which keeps him from waging war while talking peace. No such inhibitions bother the iron men of Communism.

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