= 6 we Continued from page I = sal oe me BUNE Maser ceveddtecilismee Mnnstananndllle FRIDAY, MAY 7, 1954 : i Bs is "EAST-WEST TRADE news is likely to come from Paris, where, according to Vancouver Sun reporter Stanley Burke — who attended the Geneva talks— _ “the list of banned strategic goods virtually is being thrown out the window.” - : *. Capitalist countries are waking “up to the fact that trade barriers ‘erected at* U.S. insistence. have hurt their own economy while ac- tually stimulating economic pro- gress in socialist countries, And as Burke reports: “The ban on trade with Com- munist countries has been made to look rather ridiculous by re- cent Russian offers to -trade oil, ‘ball bearings, machine _ tools, strategic ores, grain and a wide variety of other goods including automobiles.” ; _ The Soviet Union’s display at Milan’s 36-nation trade fair as- tounded visiting buyers, who were impressed by the quality of the USSR’s engineering products — tractors, a 25-ton truck with a 300 horsepower engine, machine _teols, electric: calculating and in- dexing machines and textile looms. Such big. business organs as The Financial Post and the Wall Street Journal have been advocat- ing the need for East-West trade during.the past few months. “World needs this trade” said a recent Post editorial. And the Journal reminded its readers that “the expansion of trade is and al- ways. has been good for the world. And curiously enough, the more trade has expanded in freedom from politics, the better it has served the political goal of peace.” Although the huge socialist foreign markets are not yet be- ‘ing tapped by Canada to any ex- tent (a beginning was made in | a current deal with the Soviet union involving pulp and hides) Britain recently sent a trade mis- sion to the USSR which picked up over $1 billion in orders. - J. B. Scott, head of the big . British electrical firm of Cromp- ton Parkinson, and chairman of the trade mission, gave an ex- - elusive interview to World maga- zine in which he answered many questions of interest to firms anx- ‘ious to open trade with the USSR. Here are excerpts. from that in- terview: ‘ Q.—How did you carry on ne- gotiations? ‘ A.—We dealt throughout with the Russian central government, because all purchases are made - by its central trading organiza- tion, and distributed afterwards to the individual industries. Q.—How were the contracts drawn? ‘ A.—Terms, provisions for arbi- tration, and penalties were agreed , to and signed by the individual firms in Moscow. Q.—How and in what currency will the Russians pay? A.—Cash against shipping docu- ments in sterling. They were willing to some extent to pay in dollars, but to avoid complica- tions we are accepting sterling payment. -Q—Had you made previous sales to the Russians, and did they live up to the contracts? A.—Yes, to both parts of that question. I have had previous experience of doing business with the Russians and have always found that they live up to their contracts quite scrupulously. Canada’s economy—and particu- larly the economy of British Col- umbia—demands an extension of trade with People’s China. The ban on trade with China has been a political ban imposed by the United States. With the U.S. suf- fering an economic recession, powerful voices in that country are demanding a resumption of trade with China. pk as Even Herbert Hoover, former president 8f£ the U.S., has voiced the opinion that “as business con- tinues to fall off there’ll be an in- creasing demand for some kind of trade with China.” Canada needs to cut free from economic dependence on the Un- ited. States and open up new foreign markets. What better time than now to send Canadian trade missions abroad — to the Soviet Union, to China, to the New Democracies; and to all countries of the world willing to trade with us? a | May Day around world | TOKYO workers marched on May Day in a tremendous demonstration against U.S. H-bomb tests. All U.S. armed forces were ordered _to remain in barracks during the ‘day. ai A giant float shaped like a tuna fish and labelled radioactive, won the applause of citizens. It was ad- dressed to President Eisenhower. _ MOSCOW Foreign observers were quick to comment on the impressive de- fensive display of the Red Army and Air Fleets on May Day, but spent less time watching the marching thousands, joyous and confident in their struggle to maintain world peace and advance the living standards of Soviet citi- zens. Premier Georgi M. Malenko, Nikita S. Krushchev, Communist party secretary, and Defense Min- ister Nikolai Bulganin were pres- ent in Red Square. Bulganin took the salute and in a speech called on Soviet armed formations to master new weapons to hurl back any threat of war. BERLIN More than a million Japanese . Over a_ half-million workers marched in the Eastern section of Berlin under the banner of world peace and a united demo- cratic Germany. Contrasting was the less than 100,000 people — smallest right-wing demonstration in years—that gathered in West Berlin before the Reichstag. New York Times correspondent Walter Sullivan noted that earlier dem- onstrations had been wont “to ery defiance to the Russians. To- day many West Berlin workers made it clear their chief interests ‘was in better wages and full em- ployment.” One out of every four West German worker is unemploy- ed. - PARIS. A government ban on a city demonstration-march to the Place de la Bastille could not halt a huge rally attended by 10,000 on the outskirts of Paris. General Confederation of Labor leader Benoit Frachon declared the hopes of the world were in the Geneva Conference where the Indochina war had to be settled. — Here (left to right) Sieu Hong, representative of the National United Front of Khmer (Cambodia) a Pon Duc Phang, chairman of the National United front of Viet Nam; and Souvanouvong, chairman the National United Front of Pathet Lao (Laos), are shown at the March 1951 conference which estab- lished the people’s alliance of the three states of Indochina. Interview with General Giap People of Viet Nam cannot be ; conquered, states commander In his first interview with a Western journalist, General Giap, commander of the Viet Nam Peo- ple’s Army, has. described the battle for Dien Bien Phu as the greatest of the war of liberation. “It demonstrates the clear and rapid progress of our armed forces, both in morale and in tac- tical and technical ability,” he told Franco Calamandrei, corres- pondent of Unita, the Italian Com- munist paper. f The interview took place at the general’s headquarters on April 9. Since then the battle has taken a decisive turn in favor of the Viet- namese. Here is an abridged text of the Unita interview: I asked General Giap his opin- ion of the strategic and technical ‘position of the battle at Dien Bien Phu. Mea ee He said: “When they seized Dien Bien Phu the enemy not only hoped, as an immediate ob- jective, to turn it into an offen- sive base against Northwest Viet Nam, but also, as a long-term ob- jective—and this long-term objec- tive is particularly dear to the _U.S. General Staff—intended to make of it an air base which from its geographical position would be ' one of the most important in all Southeast Asia.” And the general showed me\ow the map how Dien Bien Phu is at _ the centre of a circle which touches South China, Burma and Siam. A “In view of the great distance of Dien Bien Phu from our rear areas and its lack of communica- tions with them,” Giap continued, “the enemy did not expect to have to fight a defensive battle there. “So when our People’s Army laid seige to it, the French Gen- eral Staff was obliged to with- draw its forces from other fronts in Indo¢hina and to concentrate them there, along with the most modern equipment supplied b the U.S.” 7 I asked the general what, in his opinion, had been the biggest mis-_ take of the French and U.S. mili- tarists in their calculations about _ Dien Bien Phu. “The basic mistake of the im- Perialists,” he said, “was once again that of not foreseeing the efforts which a people fighting for its independence is capable of. “They underestimated the stage of maturity reached by our Peo- _ple’s' Army, and the immense re- sources of energy of all our peo- ple.” I reminded the general that imperialist propaganda speaks of Dien Bien Phu as a battle in which nothing has yet been de- — cided, in which neither side has either gained a victory or suffer- ed a defeat. | “From the facts I have already outlined,” said Giap with a smile, “it seems to me that quite the : opposite conclusion emerges. “It is enough to recall that so many enemy forces. are immobil- ized here that the greater part of their transport and bomber air- craft are occupied at Dien Bien Phu. : : ‘ “That the French General Staff has had to strip the Delta, South- ern Viet Nam, Laos and Cambodia of troops. “That as a result our forces have been enabled to strike blows in the Delta and the central plateau and to capture hundreds ° of positions in southern Viet Nam.” ; Finally I asked the commander- in-chief of the Viet Nam People’s Army to sum up the importance of the battle of Dien Bien Phu. “The battle of Dien Bien Phu declared General Giap, “is the 8reatest battle of our war of lib- eration. “The successes which we have already registered in it demon- strate the clear and rapid pro- gress of our armed forces, both in morale and in tactical and technical ability. “Similarly, the blows which the enemy has suffered are a new and bloody proof that the cause of the colonialist invaders and imperialist aggressors is a lost one, “As our president Ho Chi Minh has Said, if our people are fight- ing, it is because the French in- vaders and U.S. imperialists have forced them to defend with their arms the independence of Viet Nam and the cause of peace. _ “In spite of constantly increase- ing U.S, intervention, in spite of the plans of the French colonial- ist government, with the support of the peace forces of the world and of France, and under the bril- liant leadership of the Lao Dong party (Workers’ party) and our government, we are confident of the final victory of our cause.” _ General Giap was born in 1909 in the village of An Xa in North 19 deadline for installatio® PACIFIC TRIBUNE —MAY 7, 1954 — PAGE ! Annam of a peasant family. He became a student, organized Be dent strikes against French OF onialism and founded the pape Tieng Dan (The Voice of the Pe le). i : Arrested at the age of 19, he spent three years in prison. then went to Hanoi to study ee, Forced to flee to China in 193% he returned to his native lane organize partisan warfare against the Japanese invaders. Z After the liberation, he wa minister of the interior under a Chi Minh, who, when the Fret! ' launched their war of reconques entrusted him with the task organizing a regular army. wife was killed by the French. Continued _ GAS tion of safety devices on gas out lets “until a full investigation carried out on their producto ! distribution and insta George C. Moxham, Socred he for Vancouver Centre, told meeting that under the new Py i vincial Gas Act, all safety devs will have to have the approval ee of a testing agency. This me mean that many devices alre@ installed will be rejected. ic The demand that B.C. Electr pay for the installing of rea devices was first raised by M Effie Jones, president of © Reform Association, some mom ago. ert BCE gross revenue from ope” tions rose: from $39 millions 1949 to $56 millions in 1953. ae cent increases in gas rey alone could pay several times 0 ‘ for the total cost of installing oe , safety devices required in city. | ; yo Failure of Vancouver City Or cil to put any pressure on nS) BCE has angered local citizé who are appalled by the ne death toll from leaking gas J of Ald. G. T. Cunningham, ele¢, ed last year with the backing the Non-Partisan Associatio™ 7 listed as a director of the tet Electric in the company’s 1@ annual report. : f The city’s rising gas death tor now stands at 33 this yeal, 7 iy four deaths listed since the safety devices at the expens® owners. vic 4 7