'PEACE BY DETERRENT'

...law when made by your government...

...This naked menace to world peace brandished so callously by the Soviet leader reveals the hypocrisy of his protestations in behalf of peace.'" Mr...

...Rau," I protested again, "the U.S...

...Rau," I protested, "when my government makes such threats it doesn't intend actually to do anything...

...Now that," he said, "seems to me one of the most remarkable examples of self-condemnation ever issued by a responsible government...

...And when I say renounced, I mean that governments should stop asserting such a principle...

...K's current threat sounds provocative to me, so also does the U.S...

...government which tells the Soviet Union to keep hands off, it is all of the Latin American governments...

...But Mr...

...It only issues such warnings to deter Moscow and Peking from aggression...

...It makes you angry...

...If the Latin American governments have the right to declare that their affairs are off limits for other governments, then, similarly, Asian governments must have the same right...

...Your Undersecretary of State, Douglas Dillon, made the flat statement that 'Mr...

...What are you proposing...

...And your government appears to be trying to establish as a principle the idea that a government, because it is Communist, thereby forfeits some of its rights under international law...

...But I am thinking in global terms...

...It may well be true that your government did not intend to intervene with force against the Castro government...

...To my astonishment, Mr...

...Rau went on, "is that this episode makes it clear that such threats to use force as a deterrent—no matter who makes them to whom—not only do not contribute to world peace but vastly increase the antagonisms and fears that increase the danger of war...

...You Americans seem to have two entirely different sets of principles for your international relations—one set that applies to your own policies, and another for other governments...

...I asked...

...Rau, a newspaper man from India, dropped in to chat...

...Americans must learn how reckless and provocative your own policies often appear to much of the world...

...The Latin American governments cannot expect to remain aloof indefinitely from international interference while they themselves are interfering decisively in all-important problems of other nations...

...Rau by asking him what he thought about Mr...

...But, Mr...

...She is the author of three books, "Year of the Wild Boar," "Mirror for Americans—Japan," and "The First Book of Japan...

...No doubt...

...Your own government has intervened incessantly and massively in situations in Asia which are distant from the United States and in the backyard of both China and the U.S.S.R...

...Judging by your press, many Americans not only would not be shocked by the idea that your government might use force, but vigorously urged such a policy...

...I know how easy it is to make such suggestions, and how difficult it is to put them into practice...

...But your government also seems to want other things which are incompatible with this goal...

...But Mr...

...Well," I said, "of course I agree that no government should threaten to use force against any other government...

...Your government has repeatedly and incessantly made threats to use force against the Soviet and Chinese governments if they should intervene in some situation in the Far East or Indochina, where the U.S...

...government is ever going to design a constructive foreign policy you HELEN MEARS, who has lived in both China and Japan, has written widely of foreign affairs...

...I thought it over...

...Your government has repeatedly asserted it to warn both Peking and Moscow that their intervention in various situations in the Far East or in Southeast Asia would result in the United States retaliating massively with rockets or missiles or bombs or whatever was handiest...

...Khrushchev ought to know that the United States will never be deterred by any threats of his from protecting its own interests...

...But this time it is not a United States policy under discussion...

...He said that the U.S.S.R...

...Wouldn't you call this direct interference in the affairs of China, and Asia, by the geographically distant Latin American governments...

...In other words, it is not only the U.S...

...It is certain that no government is likely to develop constructive principles so long as it clings to destructive ones...

...In thus charging Khrushchev with breaking the law of the United Nations Charter, your government is unwittingly confessing its own similar guilt...

...I repeated...

...K which said that 'the threat of the use of force made so blatantly by the Soviet chairman in relation to the affairs of nations of the Western Hemisphere is contrary to the basic principles of the United Nations Charter, which rejects the use of force in the settlement of international disputes...

...Rau held up his hand and shook it vigorously...

...Exactly," said Mr...

...Now Khrushchev is applying your own principle to you...

...But it is also true that these same Latin American governments do not feel that any Asian government, or association of Asian governments, has a similar right to say Keep Off to non-Asian governments...

...This principle was asserted years ago by your then Secretary of State John Foster Dulles...

...Of course such statements by your government made the Russians and Chinese furious—just as Mr...

...Take the important problem of China...

...But we are talking of the right of the U.S.S.R., under the Charter, to be concerned with Latin American problems...

...But it is a fact that many American news commentators seemed to believe that your government was seriously considering doing so...

...This was a statement by Nikita Khrushchev...

...What I personally would desire is a different question...

...But it seems to me that in this case Khrushchev made it worse because he was trying to intervene in the Western Hemisphere, in fact, right in the United States' own backyard, where he certainly has no business...

...He was merely making his threat as a deterrent...

...I had thought that Khrushchev's warning to the United States not to intervene in Cuba, accompanied by mention of rockets, was an inexcusable provocation, bound to infuriate both the U.S...

...K doesn't intend to do anything either...

...The point, as I see it," Mr...

...Such a declaration from Khrushchev was bound to make your government and people furious...

...Rau triumphantly...

...I mean," replied Mr...

...Exactly...

...I asked...

...and China —a principle which is the basis of your foreign policy...

...Rau said that he thought it might be rather helpful...

...And why hasn't he...

...But beyond this, your government is saying now that such threats are contrary to the law of the United Nations Charter...

...Well, Quemoy and Matsu are less than five miles from mainland China...

...At that moment, however, I was thinking about Soviet, rather than United States, policy...

...government to exclude the actual government of China from membership in that international body, despite the fact that the overwhelming majority of Asian nations want the real government of China admitted to the United Nations...

...Rau waved his newspaper clipping excitedly...

...And if they are contrary to such law when made by Khrushchev, are they not similarly contrary to U.N...

...If I could remold the world I should do away with the exclusion principle of regional groupings...

...And I must say that just as Mr...

...Khrushchev did was simply apply to the United States a principle which your own government has asserted incessantly to the U.S.S.R...

...Rau laughed as he continued...

...Of course, it made Moscow and Peking angry when your government applied it to them...

...I believe that if the U.S...

...Rau shrugged...

...Rau again seemed to think I had clinched his argument...

...Helpful...

...So do not take the self-righteous attitude that your government would not dream of using force...

...Khrushchev's warning...

...government sound provocative when it sends out similar warnings...

...Rau, "that it would be useful if you Americans could be made to see how your own policies look to other people...

...What in the world do you mean by that...

...But it happens that the U.S.S.R...

...And if Khrushchev's application of the principle of deterrence by threat of massive retaliation could help Americans realize how destructive such a principle is, then perhaps you Americans would put pressure on your own government to discard this destructive principle...

...is one of the permanent members of the Security Council, which is charged with the primary responsibility for maintaining the peace...

...I greeted Mr...

...I should strengthen the technical committees of the United Nations and give them authority and financial support to work to solve the serious problems which lead to international disputes and domestic unrest...

...Of course—and I repeat this to emphasize that sometimes I find you have some difficulty in separating analysis from personal preference and emotion—in this particular instance it seems to me that Khrushchev's method of expressing concern was contrary to the law of the Charter as well as morally reprehensible...

...Your State Department issued a statement replying to Mr...

...Rau," I said, "in the Western Hemisphere, all of the governments are agreed that they will not permit any Communist government to intervene in any Western Hemisphere country...

...Exclusion doctrines—if they are to be accepted as principle—must work both ways...

...As always, he carried a sheaf of newspapers to use in our discussions of what he often felt were oddities in United States foreign policy and attitudes...

...Deterrence by threat of massive retaliation...

...Such statements naturally would make all of us furious...

...But, in any case, let us not get sidetracked by the problem of whether or not your government might use force against the Castro government in this particular instance...

...But first of all I should outlaw both the Communist and the anti-Communist crusades, both of which are clearly contrary to the 'law' of the United Nations Charter...

...I thought about this for a moment...

...Now, don't misunderstand me...

...government and public opinion, and certainly no contribution to the reduction of tensions...

...Point one," he said...

...After all, your government has been saying for years that the threat to use massive force is the best way to keep peace...

...government doesn't need to be deterred...

...This certainly sounds like an accusation and a threat...

...government which initiated the principle of deterrence by the threat of massive retaliation...

...It has been the votes of the Latin American bloc in the United Nations that have enabled the U.S...

...government...

...government must keep hands off Cuba...

...As a principle of international practice, deterrence by threat of massive retaliation should be officially condemned and renounced by all governments...

...But the first step in working for peace is for people —ordinary people—to face up to the sort of attitudes and policies, so characteristic of many governments today, which make it impossible even to begin to work out better policies...

...As an individual, and as an Indian, I consider Khrushchev's statement to be reckless and provocative...

...Moreover, your government claims to act within the law of the United Nations Charter...

...This, of course, is what Mr...

...The United States did not intend to use force against the Cuban government...

...For example, your government spokesmen issued statements claiming to be shocked at Khrushchev's threats...

...Now for point two...

...This principle can hardly be reconciled with the United Nations Charter, since the U.S.S.R., among other Communist-governed states, is a charter member...

...What I am more interested in is the problem of how the governments of all the nations are going to find principles of international law and practice that will really work to keep the peace, and prevent the exploitation of any nation by any other...

...From the point of view of an individual in a neutral position, it seems to me that these two governments merely hurl the same charges at each other — and neither side bothers to present any evidence...

...K's similar statement makes your government furious...

...K has said repeatedly about the charges made against the U.S.S.R...

...Yet, actually what Mr...

...It is all over the official record that it was the U.S...

...had rockets which could reach everywhere...

...I should develop a United Nations civil service which could step into administrative posts where such expert and impartial assistance was necessary...

...So under the United Nations Charter the Soviet government clearly has a right to be concerned about any situation which it sincerely believes threatens to lead to international conflict...

...As our State Department said, Khrushchev just made this charge to justify his own intervention in the Western hemisphere...

...Precisely...

...Your government pointed out that Cuba was less than a hundred miles from the United States...

...by the U.S...

...That," I responded, "is exactly what my government wants...

...Are you suggesting that there ought to be an Asia-for-the-Asians doctrine, as there is a Western - Hemisphere - for - the-Americans doctrine...

...I interrupted...

...You say that Khrushchev made his charge — that the United States intended intervention—only to justify his own intervention...

...Rau said this with satisfaction, as though I had strengthened- his argument...

...It would do no harm either if they would return to the law of the United Nations Charter which governments generally praise so highly, yet ignore so systematically...

...government claims to have special interests...

...I was discussing the inconsistencies of governments in asserting their principles...

...He said bluntly that the U.S...

...It is true, as you say, that all of the Latin American governments approve of your Monroe Doctrine, which in effect puts a verbal curtain around the Western Hemisphere and says Keep Off to other governments...

...And what principle is that...

...Or probably he did it simply to show your government that two could play at this 'peace by deterrent' game...