Communism Not Issue in S.E. Asia, Holds Jean Mintz

Communism is not the issue in Asia, claimed Miss Jean Mintz, one time adviser to the Indonesian embassy, during an informal seminar on Southeast Asia last Saturday. The people there are too concerned over becoming independent national states to worry about this country's battle with Communism.

In Indo-China, Miss Mintz said we are not completely up against a wall. We have to back neither the Communist Ho Chih-Mihn nor the imperialistic French and Bao-Dai. We can get tough with France, insist it set up a real government with popular support, not a puppet one universally disliked, staff the army with indo-Chinese, not Frenchmen, and let the country develop along national lines.

Gambler

It's a gamble, she admitted, but one we're now forced to take.

Rupert Emerson, Chairman of the Government Department, warned that no matter how contented this move might make the population, as long as there are militant communists in the country, they'll try to take over, and they play for keeps.