Nixon Claims POW's Hold Back Withdrawal

Yesterday evening in a press conference in which he de-emphasized the importance of the current wave of antiwar demonstrations, President Nixon reaffirmed his intention to keep troops in South East Asia until he receives a "commitment to release our prisoners" from Hanoi.

"If the North Vietnamese are so barbaric that they continue to hold our POW's regardless of what we do with regard to withdrawal, then we're going to keep a residual force in no matter how long it takes," he said.

He stated the success of his "Vietnamization" policy was a second absolute prerequisite for withdrawal. "We will stay until the Vietnamese have the capability to have a chance to defend themselves," he said.

"I see no gain from our standpoint to set a withdrawal date . . . when we get nothing for it." he said. "Once you set a date, we destroy any incentive the enemy has to negotiate," he added.

In reference to antiwar activity in Washington, Nixon said, "The Congress is not intimidated, the President isnot intimidated. The Government is going to move forward. But those that come to break the law will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."

Nixon emphasized the decline in American casualties as an indication of the success of his policies. "The casualties which our television viewers heard on their television programs tonight were one-half of what they were at this same week two years ago, and one-seventh of what they were at this week in 1968. So progress is being made." Nixon made no mention of Vietnamese casualty figures.

Questioned about the thaw in U.S. relations with Communist China, Nixon surprised the audience by announcing, "I hope and I expect to visit mainland China sometime and in some capacity."

Later Nixon elaborated that he was "not talking about any invitation" but that a visit was what he hoped for "in the long run."

Nixon set the main goals of U.S. policy as "normalization of relations with mainland China" and "the ending of its isolation from the other nations of this world." But he refused to discuss the question of Communist China's possible admission to the United Nations or formal recognition of Peking by the United States, labeling such discussion "premature."