740.0011 Pacific War/3531
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Assistant Secretary of State (Berle)
M. Hoppenot came in to see me at his request. He handed me the attached memorandum,3 which states that the French National Committee understands that Chinese operations will presently open against the Japanese within the frontiers of Indochina. This gave great concern to the Committee of National Liberation. If Chinese troops attacked there, plainly there would not be any support from the French, since the Chinese had always claimed interest there, and it was not unlikely that the French troops would defend against a Chinese attack.
I asked whether this matter had already been brought to the attention of the Chiefs of Staff. M. Hoppenot said it had, through General [Page 884] Bethouart. I thanked him for the information and said that the matter presented was primarily for military consideration.
Note: But it is not only for military consideration. This brings us squarely up to the problem of whether, in the Far East, we are reestablishing the western colonial empires or whether we are letting the East liberate itself if it can do so. I feel that the matter should be discussed on a high level with the President for his decision. I do not know that we need to settle matters with the French Committee in Algiers. If the Chinese can clo anything against the Japanese in French Indochina to the general advantage of the war, I have difficulty in seeing why we should stop them.
- Supra.↩