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Peking and the Laotian Crisis: A Further Appraisal

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 February 2009

Extract

In an “interim appraisal” of Peking's interest in Laos, which appeared in The China Quarterly last autumn, I expressed the view that China's security would be better served by the creation of a neutral buffer state in Laos than by the imposition of a Communist one, which would tempt the United States to intervene. Though we are here, of course, in the realm of reasoned speculation, recent events have seemed to confirm both halves of this proposition. That the Chinese Communists believe a neutral Laos would be the best way of getting the Americans out is suggested by their readiness to accept some of the more controversial provisions for Laotian neutrality that were agreed on July 23 at the Geneva International Conference on Laos. That the danger, from Peking's point of view, of an American military intervention is a real one was shown in May when the United States decided to strengthen its force in Thailand. Various other developments, however, suggest that the Chinese are taking an increasingly direct interest in Laos.

Type
Recent Developments
Copyright
Copyright © The China Quarterly 1962

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References

1 “Peking and the Laotian Crisis: An Interim Appraisal,” The China Quarterly, No. 7.Google Scholar

2 The Times, 12 29, 1961.Google Scholar

3 BBC, Summary of World Broadcasts (SWB), Part 3, FE 930, 04 28, 1962.Google Scholar

4 Hughes, Richard in the Sunday Times, 05 13, 1962.Google Scholar

5 SWB, Part 3, FE 944, 05 15, 1962.Google Scholar

6 SWB, Part 3, FE 946, 05 17, 1962.Google Scholar

7 The Economist, 04 22, 1961.Google Scholar

8 People's Daily, 04 29, 1961.Google Scholar

9 SWB, Part 3, FE 957, 05 30, 1962Google Scholar, quoting the “National Army Station” which, though it did not name Ho Wei, referred to “the CPR cultural and economic representative.”