SHOULD ALL OF VIETNAM BE DIVIDED IN 3 PARTS?

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01365R000300130002-1
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 22, 2004
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: February 13, 1972
• Content Type: NSPR

13 FEB 1972
when U.S. troops will be gone from South Most important, partition would bring
By ROSE KUSHNER Vietnam, these men and women decided an end to the killing and peace to the
special to The star that partition was the only hope for a free people-north and south-after 25 years
A` Vietnamese philosophy professor Vietnam. of war.
suggests that ". . . a peace settlement The group has received broad sup- To the Vietnamese people, supporters-
might provide for the division of Vietnam Port from anti-Thicu Vietnamese as well of the plan say, partition would merely
into three parts: a Communist north, a as private assurances from French and mean establishing political boundaries
free south and a coalition center. The American officials. There is "ample rea- marking ancient cultural and ethnic divi-
people throughout Vietnam would be giv- SA n," according to sources, to believe sions.
en an appropriate period to move to the that Hanoi would agree to the partition Although Vietnani covers an area
area governed by the regime of their plan as well, only the size of New Mexico, its varied
choice." "North Vietnam and the National topography ranges from fertile, flat river
This "Vietnamese solution" to the Liberation Front stated years ago that deltas to the rocky Annamite e of the mountains
war in Vietnam was put forward in a 1963 `coexistence' with a non-Communist that snake down the center caun-
article in Foreign Affairs magazine by South Vietnam is a member of trv.
possible," Although the language is the same,
Maj. Gen. Edward G. Lansdale, formerly the group said, "so long as neither.Thieu pronounciation varies considerably from
the senior liaison officer In the American nor Ky led the Saigon government. They north to south. Vietnamese from the
Embassy in Saigon. Lansdale wrote that even named four or five prominent anti- north do not trust southerners; southern-
this kind of settlement "would permit Communist nationalists who would be ers distrust northerners; Vietnamese
the Vietnamese 'to vote with their feet'." `acceptable' to them." from Central Vietnam trust only each
During the past year, a group of He said that there are many reasons other.
Vietnamese exiles in Paris has begun an for Hanoi's agreement. North Vietnam Central Vietnamese consider them-
attempt to implement this solution. Their has been drained of manpower and re- selves the elite-handsomer and intellec-
plan is to partition the country into its sources by seven years of intensive war. tually superior. Delta farmers are stereo-
historically separate sections-Tonkin in Increasingly, the country has become de- typed as lazy, easygoing and fond of
the north, Annam in the center and pendent on China for civilian as well as luxuries. Northerners, on the other hand,
Cochin China in the south. military needs. are thought to be energetic, shrewd and
"We would not use these names, how- Yet China's failure to help West Paki- "tricky."
ever," 'a leader of the group, who wished stan during its recent war with India has ATontagnards-Vietnam's s e c o ti d-
to remain anonymous, said. "They were persuaded many leaders in Hanoi that class mountaineers-are despised by all
imposed on Vietnam, by Chinese and the big brother to the north may not be as dark-skinned aborigines.
French colonialists. We prefer simply the most reliable of allies in a showdown. While these regional differences are
North, Central and South Vietnam. And Moreover, the imminent visit of Presi- ridiculed as insignificant by Americans in
Central Vietnam would be no 'coalition dent Nixon to Peking and the apparent Vietnam, the Vietnamese themselves
center.' Those who wish comntuni=.m detente have given birth to fears of a strongly believe that they exist. Thus,
would be free to move to the North. That sellout. advocates of partition think that the pe.o-
is the whole point of the division." As far as the Saigon government is pie would welcome new political borders
Instead, the central zone-- concerned, central Vietnam has been so that reflect social and cultural distinc-
Annam-would be "coexisting," a neutral devastated by the war that it will be an tions.
area with diplomatic ties everywhere but economic liability for years. Aside from These borders are already tentatively
aligned with neither East nor West. this financial drain, the region tradition- fixed.
Although partitioning Vietnam into ally has been a political thorn in Saigon's Lansdale felt that the size of the
the three areas is not the solution he once sensitive skin. coalition center" would depend on the
hoped for, Lansdale r:ow feels that such a number of people who chose to live there.
settlement is o considering. The'Vietnamese partition group, howev-
he way ngs Is rth care," in said, "par- Ethnic Divisions er, has definite boundaries in mind.
"m
"We hope from
titloning Vietnam may be the only way to After the Buddhist uprisings in Da the north and to the gain south," on"roney pokeban
revent a bloodbath if the North should e spokesman
take over." Nan an H td i~,1 Ad fh 1966,-Saigon's 7 tearoom explained. "We wish to include not only
The Only Hope
).rtn parallel. This would give us Quang
five central provinces and "be rid of two Binh province and the city of Dong IIoi-
plagtues at once
"
.
now under Communist control.
From the American point of view,, "From the south," he continued, "we
partition would allow "withdrawal with would have the five n o r it h e r n
honor." The commitment to support the provinces-Quang 1'ri, Thau Thien, Quang
Thicu government would be upheld while Nam, Quang Tin and Quang Ngai. We
. Since most advocates of partition ex-
pect to be the future victims of that
bloodbath, they made plans soon after
U.S. troop withdrawals began. Assuming
that this year's U.S. Election Day is in
effect, North Vietnam'sAIVE W&c1ti ia'r
.
gf&.2004/1 1 /01-: 'GIN RDPB8-O'1`365RU0 )Yl ff?~}1u9 lattri that is
now part o I orps-Kontum, Binh Dinh
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