Indonesian Labels U.S. Asian Policy 'Impasse'

Rachmat Suroyo of the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated last night at a forum sponsored by the Harvard Liberal Union that the only way for the U.S. to pull its foreign policy out of the impasse that has developed in Southeast Asia is to work for the independence of the countries there, try to raise their standards of living, and encourage them to form independent policies.

"America's failure to intervene early in Indonesia's revolution against the Dutch," he said, "cost it a great deal of the friendship it had."

Rupert Emerson '22, professor of Government, the other speaker, said that America's best course of action in Southeast Asia would now be "to show them that they are most likely to attain their national equality through association with the free nations."

"Southeast Asia already is a battle-ground in many respects," Emerson said. Even if the French win in Indo-China, "they have lost much more there economically than they could hope to gain."