740.0011 P.W./776: Telegram
The Ambassador in the United Kingdom (Winant) to the Secretary of State
[Received December 8—4:50 p.m.]
5946. Free French headquarters today issued a statement declaring that the French National Committee had met under the chairmanship of General de Gaulle and that “it was decided that a state of war existed between all the French territories, French naval and land forces and Japan.” It stated that Rear Admiral Thierry D’Argenlieu, National Commissioner for the Pacific, had “received instructions to concur in the inter-allied effort with all the means at his disposal and for that purpose to keep in close touch with the authorities of Great Britain and her Dominions, and of the United States and the Netherlands Indies.”
The statement continued:
“Further, the National Committee appeals to the military and civilian population of Indochina and invites it to resist Japanese aggression by all the means in its power.
“The National Committee in reaching those decisions is certain of acting in the name of the whole of France.
“For a year a treacherous Government in the hands of the enemy has allowed Japan to enter Indochina, to occupy her ports and her landing fields, to confiscate all her resources for Japan’s war needs and finally to transform the whole country into an initial base and an arsenal for Japan’s aggressions.
“In handing over French territory the Vichy Government has not only been a traitor to France but also to the allies of our country.”