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At a press conference, 18 August, PRESIDENT JOHNSON said the US is "very anxious to meet with representatives of the North Vietnamese Government, at any time, at a mutually agreed place, to try to agree on some plan that will resolve...differences...As of the moment, there has not been communicated-to us any change of position any different from that reflected in Ho Chi Minh's letter..."of 15 February. Johnson said the US would welcome "any indication on the part of the North Vietnamese that they would agree to a cease-fire, that they would agree to negotiations, that they would agree that if we had a bombing pause, that they would not take advantage of that pause to increase our men killed in action." (, 19 August)

Peking called President Johnson's talk of a bombing pause "trash," part of the "war escalation and peace talks fraud." revived the Chinese charge of US-USSR collusion in trying to "force surrender through a pause in the bombing." The paper noted Rusk's admission "that Kosygin told Johnson negotiations on ending the war in Vietnam could begin if the US stopped bombing North Vietnam" and pointed out that (6 August) had "openly raved that the pause in the bombing of North Vietnam by the US would pave the way for peace talks on Vietnam." concluded, the new LBJ offer is part of a "new fraud" cooked up by US imperiallists and Soviet revisionists. (NCNA, 19 and 22 August)

AMBASSADOR GOLDBERG, speaking at the UN General Assembly on 21 September, discussed the US commitment to a political solution in Vietnam through "discussions or negotiations" but regretted that Hanoi had "not yet agreed to this objective." Citing the familiar charge that "bombing is the sole obstacle to negotiations," Mr. Goldberg said "no...third party-including those governments which are among Hanoi's closest friends-has conveyed to us any authoritative messages from Hanoi that there would in fact be negotiations if the bombing were stopped." He asked for "enlightenment" on the subject. Mr. Goldberg said the "principles of an honorable settlement" envisaged by the US government were those embodied in the Geneva. Agreements of 1954 and 1962; he asked if Hanoi agreed with his interpretation of the Geneva Accords, "to which it professedly subscribes." Rh