HOW U.S. IMPERIALISM HAS TORN UP THE GENEVA AGREEMENTS

In July 1954 agreements on the restoration of peace in Indo-China were reached at the Geneva Conference. In the past 11 years, however, their provisions on the Vietnam question, far from being put into force, have been wantonly trampled underfoot and completely wrecked by U.S. imperialism. In spite of this, U.S. President Johnson sees fit to pass himself off as a pro­tector of the -agreements. With his tongue in his cheek, he said in his March 25 statement that the United States seeks "no more than a return to the essentials of the agreements of 1954". This is a big lie.

Let us look at the following facts: 

The Final Declaration of the Geneva Conference provides that the military demarcation line at the 17th Parallel in Vietnam "is provisional and should not in any way be interpreted as constituting a political or territorial boundary". It also provides that nationwide free general elections on the basis of unanimity reached in the consultations between the southern and northern parts shall be held in Vietnam in July 1956 for the pur­pose of realizing the peaceful unification of the whole country. 

But the day the agreements were signed, the then U.S. Defence Secretary Wilson stated that the United States would be ready at any time to protect the military demarcation line in Vietnam as it did the military demarcation line in Korea. On the following day, the then U.S. President Eisenhower brazenly declared the United States not hound by any decisions at the Geneva Conference. 

Afterwards, through Ngo Dinh Diem, the lackey whom it fostered in South Vietnam, the United States held illegal elections there in March 1956, published a bogus "constitution", and founded the so-called Republic of Vietnam. This ruled out the possibility of bringing about peaceful unification of the country in accordance with the Geneva agreements. 

Article 14 (c) of the agreement on the cessation of hostilities in Vietnam stipulates: "Each party undertakes to refrain from any reprisals or discrimination against persons or organizations on account of their activities during the hostilities and to guarantee their democratic liberties." But after the cessation of hostilities the puppet clique in South Vietnam, abetted and supported by the United States, engaged in brutal reprisals against and suppression of persons who had taken part in the war of resistance to French colonial rule, and other patriots. For instance, more than 1,000 of them were 

fatally poisoned in the Phu Loi concentration camp in December 1958 by the U.S.-puppet regime. In some 11 

years, nearly 170,000 people were massacred, almost 800,000 tortured or maimed and another 400,000 im­prisoned in more than 1,000 jails. A large number of these victims were veterans of the resistance war. 

Article 16 of the agreement lays it down that "the introduction into Vietnam of any troop reinforcements and additional military personnel is prohibited". But following the ceasefire, the United States, instead of withdrawing the "military advisory group" it had pre­viously sent to South Vietnam, greatly expanded its military strength there by continuously bringing in military personnel. Before the end of hostilities, there were 200 of them in South Vietnam. But the figure increased to about 2,000 in 1957, 3,500 at the end of 1961, 25,000 at the end of 1963, and more than 30,000 in 1965. Moreover, the United States has goaded its satellites to send mercenaries of whom 2,000 alone are puppet troops from south Korea. 

Article 17 of the agreement stipulates that "the intro­duction into Vietnam of any reinforcements in the form of all types of arms, munitions and other war materials, such as combat aircraft, naval craft, pieces of ordnance, jet engines and jet -weapons and armoured vehicles, is prohibited". But the United States in flagrant violation of this stipulation has introduced into South Vietnam steady reinforcements in the form of large quantities of war materials. From the end of 1954 to March 1963, the war materials illegally dispatched to South Vietnam by the United States totalled 1,606 shiploads and there were 3,643 illegal aircraft arrivals. Altogether, the United States has now sent to South Vietnam 2,000 aircraft, more than 800 naval craft, several hundred tanks and armoured vehicles and over 100,000 tons of arms and war equipment. Recently, U.S. missiles and B-57 strategic bombers have been brought in. 

Article 18 of the agreement lays down that "the establishment of new military bases is prohibited through­out Vietnam territory". Article 19 also provides that "no military base under the control of a foreign state may be established in the regrouping zone of either party". But the United States has now built 169 airfields in South Vietnam compared with a mere 6 military airfields when hostilities ended in 1954. In addition, it has built or expanded 11 military harbours with modern facilities and a network of strategic highways. The whole of South Vietnam has been turned into a U.S. military base for aggression in Southeast Asia. 

Article 19 of the agreement provides that "the two parties shall ensure that the zones assigned to them do not adhere to any military alliance and are not used for the resumption of hostilities or to further an aggressive policy". But just over a month after the signing of the Geneva agreements, the United States rigged up SEATO and put South Vietnam under the "protection" of this military bloc. Under the signboard of "aid" the United States has spent over U.S.$4,000 million in South Viet­nam, fostered a most reactionary puppet regime, set up the darkest reign of fascist terror and expanded the pup­pet troops to 600,000, all armed and equipped by the United States. It directed the puppet authorities to launch "mopping-up" operations and to carry out brutal massacres against the South Vietnamese people.

In 1961 the U.S. imperialists launched an undeclared war in South Vietnam and turned it into a testing ground for "special warfare" for suppressing the national liberation movements. In the three years from 1962 to 1964, the U.S.-puppet troops carried out 105,000 "mopping-up" and suppression operations. In 1963 alone the U.S. air force stationed in South Vietnam flew 300,000 bombing and strafing missions. Besides using guns and bayonets to kill the South Vietnamese people, the U.S. imperialists have also used napalm, phosphorous bombs toxic chemicals and gas. 

The southern part of Vietnam has an area of only 170,000 square kilometres and a population of 14 million but the U.S. imperialists have launched there the biggest war in the world today. Not only this, the U.S. impe­rialists have used their bases of aggression in South Viet-· nam to carry out repeated air attacks on the northern part of Vietnam and Laos in an attempt to spread the flames of war to the whole of Indo-China and Southeast Asia. 

The facts of the past 11 years are irrefutable proof that U.S. imperialism is a most shameless violator of the Geneva agreements and that it has committed monstrous crimes against the Vietnamese people.