Firecrackers

Every day is Bastille Day with Charles de Gaulle, so concerned is he with demonstrating France's "national independence." To prove once again that he is a "free agent," he has set off a string of petty diplomatic firecrackers that not only startled his allies, but set them sputtering themselves.

For openers, De Gaulle personally vetoed the provisional permission, issued by the French Foreign Office last September, for the U.S. to reopen its consulate in Tahiti. The consulate had been closed after World War II for economy reasons, and the U.S. said it wanted to reopen it because of the upswing in tourist trade, but De Gaulle let it be known that he saw through that. Obviously, the Americans were secretly planning to spy on the first French H-bomb tests, which are expected in 1967 or 1968 on an island 750 miles from Tahiti.

The French evidently think that even token participation in SEATO could be construed as support for U.S. policies in Viet Nam. The Quai d'Orsay therefore announced that it would send only an "observer" to next week's annual SEATO meeting in London, though all other members are sending foreign ministers. "Deplorable," declared the conference's British hosts, who had been flattering themselves that their understanding with De Gaulle was rather good since Harold Wilson's visit to Paris four weeks ago, and had hoped that the French might underwrite a condemnation of Indonesian aggression in Malaysia.

For good measure, De Gaulle's emissaries were also busy last week stalling each new proposal in Brussels for increased political cooperation within the Common Market, despite earnest pleas from West Germany, Italy and the Benelux countries. These tactics left almost every nation in Western Europe on the outs with him. But not the Soviet Union, which is perhaps just the way le grand Charles wants things this week. Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko is due in Paris on "an important visit" to discuss ticklish topics like Viet Nam and the German question, and where else can the Soviets find such a free and equal nation to fraternize with?

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