740.0011 PW 1939/1–945
The Consul at Colombo (Bishop) to the Secretary of State (Stettinius)
No. 22
Sir: … I have the honor to report that the British Political Adviser1 to the Supreme Allied Commander2 has recently stated that SEAC considers French Indochina to be “open territory” in which SEAC may operate at any time that it is militarily feasible.
This official pointed out that at the Cairo meeting Admiral Mountbatten discussed the question of Thailand and French Indochina as military theatres with Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek3 and asked the Generalissimo to agree to the inclusion of French Indochina in the SEAC theatre. The Generalissimo refused to give his agreement, and Admiral Mountbatten then suggested that, although the U. S. Joint Chiefs of Staff had approved the inclusion of Thailand in SEAC, Admiral Mountbatten was willing not to publish this fact provided the Generalissimo agreed to SEAC operations in Indochina if they became militarily feasible. In other words, it was suggested that the two Supreme Allied Commanders agree orally that forces [Page 887] under either one might operate in either French Indochina or Thailand and that those areas would become a part of the theatre of the commander whose forces reached there first. The Generalissimo is said to have accepted this arrangement. …
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Respectfully yours,