The rapidly developing events in Laos are pushing the world to the brink of dangerous crisis. The incident of a Russian plane on a supply dropping mission opening fire on an American embassy observer aircraft is an ominous clue to the shape of things to come. That the Laotian capital is firmly in the hands of the rightist forces of General Nosavan, and that King Savang Vatthana is willing to accord constitutional legitimacy to the provisional government of Prince Boun Oum with a view to eliminating the possibilities of foreign countries refusing recognition to it don’t make for condition suitable for a lasting peace. In Laos the question of “legality” of a government is of less import than the need to eliminate internal conflict in which rival foreign powers may have their own vested interests. In any case, the victory of the pro-Western forces is far from decisive. And as such the mere capture of the capital does not automatically end the Royal Government’s running war with the pro-Communist Pathet Lao. The revival of the US aid (denied to the neutralist Government of Prince Souvanna Phouma) to the Boun Oum Government is a clear indication that the US is now deeply involved in the Royal Government’s unfinished internal war. This involvement makes nonsense of the recent protestations of the US Secretary of State that Washington was in favour of a neutral Laos. With supreme lack of foresight that is typical of its diplomacy, the US has succeeded in pushing the neutralists into the open arms of the Communists. The neutralist soldier, Captain Kong Lae, has now joined the Pathet Lao. This has provided Peking, Hanoi and Moscow an opportunity to pump in aid to the Pathet Lao rebels although ostensibly, the aid is to Captain Kong Lae’s forces to enable them to secure the neutrality of Laos. The commitment of the Communist bloc in Laos is no less serious than that of the US. The commitment of the US to the Boun Oum Government and the commitment of the Communist countries to the neutralists and the Pathet Lao go to add a new dimension to what was once thought to be a fratricidal war in Laos.
Left to the devices of the big powers there is every possibility of the Laotian imbroglio going the way of Korea. The only way of averting that danger is to reconvene the International Supervisory Commission. At the moment neither the Boun Oum Government nor the United States is in favour of it. Even the United Kingdom is of the same view and it is content merely to sound a ‘hands off Laos’ warning to the Soviet Union and Peking. If the Communist powers ignored that warning they were perfectly justified in doing so in that they merely reacted to a situation precipitated by Washington. It is a pity that none of the non-aligned Afro-Asian nations made any effort to move the United Nations to take cognizance of the Laotian crisis. It has now belatedly dawned upon some of them that the nature of the crisis in Laos is no more an internal affair than the one in the Congo.
December 30th, 1960.
