751G.92/271: Telegram
The Ambassador in France (Leahy) to the Secretary of State
[Received 3:15 p.m.]
214. Embassy’s telegram 208, February 19, 6 p.m.22 Chauvel states that the French Government has decided to reject the Japanese terms of settlement of the Indochinese-Thailand dispute. Ambassador Henry is being instructed to state that the cession of “approximately one third of Cambodia with four hundred thousand inhabitants” would make the administration of Indochina extremely difficult. By way of leaving the door open he is to indicate that the French might agree as a concession to the Japanese, which they had been unwilling to make to Thailand, to turn over the two enclaves along the right bank of the Mekong in the Kingdom of Luang Prabang in the north and in Laos in the south as far as the Cambodian frontier.
Ambassador Henry is being instructed at the same time to protest at the resumption of the violently anti-French campaign in the entire Thailand press, including that journal which is commonly known to enjoy a Japanese subsidy. A similar protest has been made here and the Japanese Chargé d’Affaires has also been informed of the Government’s decision not to accept the settlement.
Chauvel stated that in making the decision to reject the Japanese terms of settlement of the Indochinese-Thailand dispute the French Government is well aware that its action may result in a more aggressive Japanese attitude and possibly Franco-Japanese hostilities in Indochina.