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New Guinea. Since The Netherlands and Indonesia are not even on formal speaking terms, the task of relaying the arguments and counterarguments to each other in the struggle for New Guinea has fallen to diplomatic "third parties," largely the U.S. The issue: Indonesian in sistence that Netherlands New Guinea must belong to Indonesia, countered by the Dutch government's insistence that it would give up the colony only if the 700,000 natives were guaranteed self-determination. Ambassador Howard P.
Jones in Djakarta called on President Sukarno and impressed upon him the U.S.'s earnest wish "to avoid a clash of arms." The U.S.'s main effort was to get both sides to negotiate, and last week's events seemed to be edging in that direction. The Dutch dropped their insistence on self-determination; Sukarno reportedly now insisted only on recognition of Indonesian "administration," not immediate sovereignty. In a characteristic speech, he threatened imminent conquest of New Guinea ("No fleet, no army, no force will stop us"), but added: "Let us be patient just a little longer."