890E.01/8–2245
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Director of the Office of Near Eastern and African Affairs (Henderson)
The Minister of Lebanon, Dr. Charles Malik, called upon me this morning. He said that he had been instructed by his Government to make the four following statements to the State Department.
- 1.
- The Government of Lebanon hopes that the Government of the United States will bear in mind during these somewhat troublesome and confusing times that no person is empowered to speak on behalf of the State of Lebanon except an accredited representative or a responsible official of the Government of Lebanon. The Government of Lebanon has been somewhat concerned because two categories of persons have of late shown a tendency to speak for the State of Lebanon who have not been authorized so to do. In the first category are officials of governments other than the Government of Lebanon, some of whom, even with good intentions, intimate that they speak for the Government of Lebanon as well as for their own government. To the second category belong Lebanese citizens who are not Government officials who presume to speak on behalf of the State and people of Lebanon. It was clear that in the first category the Minister had in mind Government representatives of Syria and in the second category, the Maronite Lebanese Bishop, who is at present visiting the United States.
- 2.
- The Government of Lebanon sincerely hopes that the Government of the United States will not allow itself to be induced to enter into discussions with regard to the future of Lebanon in the absence of authorized representatives of the Government of Lebanon. It was clear that this statement was made because of concern on the part of the Lebanese Government lest General de Gaulle might succeed in prevailing upon American Government officials to negotiate with him while he is in Washington with regard to the future status of Lebanon.
- 3.
- The Government of Lebanon wishes to make it clear that it must repudiate any international agreement reached with regard to the future status of Lebanon to which the Government of Lebanon is not a [Page 1160] party. This statement obviously was also made with De Gaulle’s visit to the United States in mind.
- 4.
- The Lebanese Government wishes again to inform the Government of the United States that it will categorically refuse to enter into any kind of an agreement with any foreign power which would be discriminatory against a third foreign power.
I thanked the Minister for his statements. I told him that all of them appeared to be reasonable and understandable. The Government of the United States fully realized that only persons authorized by the Government of Lebanon could speak on behalf of the State of Lebanon. I was sure that the Government of the United States had no intention of negotiating behind the back of the Government of Lebanon with regard to the future status of Lebanon or without the knowledge of Lebanon of entering into agreements with other powers with regard to the future status of Lebanon. The policy of the Government of the United States, furthermore, coincided with that of the Government of Lebanon with regard to the granting of privileges of a discriminatory nature by one power to another power.