The third stage, immediately preceding the outbreak of armed hostilities in May 1959, was inaugurated by efforts to integrate two Pathet Lao battalions into the national army
(as stipulated in the Vientiane agreement of 1957). With
the escape of one of these battalions to the North Vietnam border and the ensuing arrest of several top-ranking Communist leaders, developments accelerated rapidly. Reacting uiolentay, both Hanoi and Peiping accused the Royal Laotian Government
of "launching a civil war" and laid the groundwork for possible military intervention by alleging threats to their national security. Following representations by these Asian bloc mem- bers, the Soviet foreign minister pressed for reactivation of the ICC in high-level talks with the British.
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The final stage, in fall 1959 and the winter of 1959-1960, was marked by the resumption of full-scale Communist guerilla warfare. It was in this stage of armed insurrection, begun
on the eve of Khrushchev's visit to the United States, that Soviet policy on Laos began t o diverge from the more militant and uncompromising line of Peiping and Hanoi.
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Throughout August and September of 1959, Communist China and North Vietnam made mare explicit their threats to intervene by warning that any foreign involvement in Laos would be a direct threat to their national security, On 12 August Communist China demanded the complete withdrawal of US advisers, equipment and bases as a precondition for peace in Laos. It was also at this time that Peiping brought up the Laos situation in connection with Khrushchev's impending visit to the United States, citing it as further proof of the inherently aggressive nature of American policy despite peaceful protestations,