Ford Broadcasts, 1965-1966: 12237637

Read from the scan by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word.

in which you would have to be obliged to defend yourself by taking to nuclear armaments?

MRS. GANDHI: It will take a long time for China to have enough bombs, I think, to make a difference. And the position is the same with India. We may have the capacity, but the financial burden of it is a very large one, and from the very practical point of view, I don't really see what good it will do us.

MR. HARRISON: Prime Minister Gandhi, something that is not hypothetical in the form of a Chinese problem in your area is that Pakistan has recently acquired military aid from Communist China in what appear to be rather substantial quantities. We are told that there may be two squadrons of airplanes and fifty to one hundred tanks.

Do you think that you are in danger of having a Chinese satellite at your doorstep?

MRS. GANDHI: It is true that we are rather alarmed at the fact that Pakistan does seem to be coming closer to China and is taking arms aid from China. It is a threat to India. Perhaps you will remember that we were against military aid to Pakistan earlier, also, beacuse we feared just this, that such aid might be used against India.

MR. HARRISON: However, now it is said in the United States that if we don't continue to give Pakistan at least some military aid, Pakistan will be compelled to go to China for an expanded military aid program.

What would you like to see the United States do to offset this?

MRS. GANDHI: The more aid Pakistan gets, the greater the danger of her getting involved in a war with us, and I don't think that such a war can do good to either Pakistan or India or contribute to peace and stability in that area.

MR. HARRISON: Then, you would just like the United States to continue withholding military aid to Pakistan, as it has since the suspension of military aid during the war?

MRS. GANDHI: I think that may be better, yes.

MR. SPIVAK: Prime Minister Gandhi, may I ask you a question: There has been increasing debate in this country about how best to deal with Communists and China and their aggression.

From India's experience, would you say that Chinese aggression can effectively be handled by the hand of friendship and by recognition?

MRS. GANDHI: Recognition perhaps may—I don't know if it will help, but, anyway, it may bring China more within—in a situation where it is easier to talk to her. China, as I have mentioned-I don't think she is going to get herself involved in a war, straight off. I think her major interest is to try to get as many other countries involved as can happen, so that she has time in the meanwhile to strengthen herself from the inside.

MR. SPIVAK: You have recognized Communist China, I believe, for some time, and you have talked with her and you have dealt with her. What good has it done you?

MRS. GANDHI: Not much, I am sorry to say.

MISS FREDERICK: Madame Prime Minister, you said a moment ago as I understood it, the more Chinese aid to Pakistan, the greater the danger of war with India.

Isn't the real possibility of war with India—doesn't it come from the Kashmir dispute, and wouldn't settlement of the Kashmir dispute help to eliminate that cause of war regardless of what arms Pakistan has?

MRS. GANDHI: Kashmir we think is a symptom rather than the cause of the disease. As far as arms go, obviously if Pakistan doesn't have the arms, she can't launch into a military venture. It is only if she has the capacity to fight that she can think of such a thing.

MISS FREDERICK: But do you see any possibility of working out a settlement on Kashmir with Pakistan?

MRS. GANDHI: We have always felt that the first step to take is more friendly relations, more economic cooperation, cultural, social and so on, and it is only when you have this basis of friendship and understanding that you can deal with as complicated a question as Kashmir.

MISS FREDERICK: What about carrying out the Security Council's recommendation for a plebiscite in the area?

MRS. GANDHI: If you go back to that resolution, you will find that the first part of it was observance of the cease-fire, withdrawal of Pakistani troops, and only after that, was there the plebiscite, and the first two have not yet been observed yet by Pakistan.

MISS FREDERICK: Does this mean then that India refuses to recognize the Security Council's resolution because one of the parties hasn't lived up to the provisions of it?

MRS. GANDHI: No, it is not that we don't recognize it, but you can't take the third step before you have taken the first two.

MISS FREDERICK: Are any serious efforts being made to take the first two steps?

MRS. GANDHI: That is for the Security Council to do.

MR. POTTER: Madame Gandhi, you have been sympathetic about our dilemma in Viet Nam while questioning our original involvement, there. Do you see any prospect of an alliance among Asian nations, perhaps, including Japan, that could contain Chinese expansionism without our help?

MRS. GANDHI: I don't really think that such a thing is possible just now. The Chinese desire is to spread her influence, and she can do this not merely by a military adventure but by many other means, as she has been trying in the past. I think the best way for that is to encourage the nationalist movements in all the countries around China.

MR. POTTER: We note in this morning's paper that the Mos-