IO Files: US/A/C.1/80
Memorandum of Conversation, by Charles W. Yost of the United States Delegation to the United Nations General Assembly
Subject: French Attitude on the Troop Case
| Participants: | Mr. Lawford, of the United Kingdom Delegation |
| Mr. Dejean, of the French Delegation34 | |
| Mr. Charles W. Yost |
Separate conversations were held with Mr. Lawford, of the United Kingdom Delegation, and Mr. Dejean, of the French Delegation, on this subject.
Mr. Lawford said that Sir Alexander Cadogan had had a long session with Mr. Parodi, of the French Delegation, last night at which Sir Alexander had taken him to task for the uncooperative French attitude on the troop case. It appeared that Mr. Parodi was adamant in refusing to support the principle of reporting on forces at home and that he was even considering presenting a resolution urging the early withdrawal of armed forces now on the territories of other United Nations. Sir Alexander had been able to persuade Mr. Parodi to drop this latter project. The British feel that the French Delegation has had recent instructions from Paris obliging them to support the Russians on this whole question.
A little later I discussed this same matter with Mr. Dejean. Mr. Dejean insisted that the question of forces at home is properly a part of the problem of reduction of armaments and should not be considered [Page 1067] in connection with armed forces abroad which is after all, whatever may be said, basically a political issue. He said that there might be, of course, some cases in which the Security Council should have information about forces on home territories in connection with action it might wish to take concerning forces on foreign territories. He said that, for example, if the Security Council should be considering the question of the withdrawal of British troops from Greece, it might wish to ask the Yugoslav Government for information with regard to Yugoslav troops in Yugoslavia. In order to provide for cases of this kind the French Delegation believed that it would be proper to amend the resolution on armed forces now before Committee 1 to authorize the Security Council to take action of the sort he had just described. He handed me the text quoted below of a paragraph on this subject but indicated that the French Delegation did not itself propose to introduce this paragraph as an amendment at this time.
“If the Security Council decides that, in addition to the information prescribed in the three preceding paragraphs, information should be obtained concerning troops stationed on their own national territory, it will request the presentation of this information by the Governments concerned under the same conditions as in the case of the information indicated in the preceding paragraphs.”
- Maurice Dejean, Alternate French Representative to the General Assembly.↩