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Meanwhile, back in Paris, the peace talks were making little headway. Chief U.S. Negotiator David Bruce, who is to be replaced by Career Diplomat Wil liam Porter in August, argued that the seven-point Communist proposal was too vague, and asked for clarification of some of the points. Though no progress was yet evident at the conference table, North Vietnamese diplomats elsewhere dropped hints that they might be willing to tolerate for a number of years an independent if neutral government in South Viet Nam as part of a political settlement. So far, the U.S. is unwilling to sacrifice the duly elected Thieu. The North Vietnamese and the Viet Cong played down Peking's notion of a multination Geneva conference, insisting that the way to a settlement could be found in the Paris talks. Their attitude suggests that, just possibly, Hanoi might now come to terms more speedily in order to keep to a minimum China's influence on any outcome.
Not Found Wanting
One clue that new moves toward a negotiated end to the war are under way came from a high U.S. Administration official after the Nixon announcement. Said he: "I have insisted through all periods that in our judgment, the surest, most reliable and most desirable way of ending the war was through negotiations. I maintained this position when it was being ridiculed and when people said there was absolutely no possibility of negotiations. The President, who has been dedicated to this negotiating process from the beginning, against all odds, is not going to be found wanting when the whole record in pursuing avenues of peace is plain."
TAIWAN. President Nixon clearly indicated the U.S. treaty commitment to Taiwan in his TV announcement when he advised that "our action in seeking a new relationship with the People's Republic of China will not be at the expense of our old friends." Yet, while the U.S. defense commitment to Taiwan is legally binding and U.S. emotional ties are strong, the Chiang government's importance in world affairs is small. The pretense that Chiang is the leader of China has long been senseless. The U.S. cannot ignore the fact that Taiwan has a thriving free economy and one of the largest non-Communist armed forces in Asia. Nevertheless, America's practical military and political stake in the island is strictly limited. Recently the Defense Department suggested that nuclear weapons to be banned from Okinawa when it reverts to Japanese control might be transferred to Taiwan; other Washington officials dismissed this idea as politically impractical and militarily unnecessary. If required, these weapons could more readily be shifted to Guam.