Foreign Relations of the United States, 1946, The Far East, Volume VIII

851G.00/5–146: Circular telegram

The Acting Secretary of State to Certain Diplomatic and Consular Officers³⁹

confidential

Washington, May 1, 1946—7 p.m.

French Vietnam conference Dalat temporarily suspended for study conflicting views re Cochinchina. Vietnam officials hope for future clouded by doubts French will abide by their agreements. French pessimistic re outcome. Vietnam demands cessation hostilities Cochinchina, release political internees, establishment armistice commission and political freedom Cochinchina. French counter-offer special committee study French-Vietnam incidents throughout Indochina. French now hold Dalat conference merely preliminary and results must have Paris approval.

Consul Saigon observes⁴⁰ French maneuvers propaganda to force withdrawal Chinese troops Tonkin and delaying tactics Dalat conference compatible with possibility French planning military coup when Chinese withdraw.

Acheson

39. At Bangkok, Batavia, London, Nanking, Paris, Singapore, and The Hague.
40. Telegram 130, April 30, 1946, 3 p.m., not printed. In it Consul Reed mentioned that Ho Chi Minh had stressed to him at Hanoi “utmost necessity of interesting American capital and employing American technicians in Vietnam.” (851G.00/4–3046)