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

892.014/10–246

The French Ambassador (Bonnet) to the Acting Secretary of State

[Translation]

No. 607

Washington, October 2, 1946.

The Ambassador of France in the United States presents his compliments to His Excellency the Acting Secretary of State and, referring to the previous communications of the Embassy of France to the Department of State on the subject of the Cambodian and Laotian territories annexed by Siam in 1941, has the honor to request, in the name of his Government, that he be so good as to submit to the Siamese Delegation at present in Washington the bases of settlement proposed in the annexed note.

As the Acting Secretary of State will note, this proposal of the French Government is in harmony with the views of the American Government as set forth in the note of October 1, 1945 transmitted on October 4 by the Chief of the Office of Far Eastern Affairs of the Department of State to the Counselor of the Embassy of France.

Indeed, the Department of State indicated in that document that the American Government does not recognize the validity of the transfer to Siam of the territories considered; that the question of their return is not, according to it, a matter for arbitration; and that in fact Siam must return them. This is indeed, as the American Government knows, the firm opinion of the French Government: in its opinion, the Siamese Government should, at the earliest date, expressly recognize the nullity of the Agreement of May 9, 1941 and its effects and proceed purely and simply to the actual return of the territories in question.

The note of the Department of State of October 1, 1945 further stated that this return should not prejudice the readjustments of boundaries or transfers of territories which might be made subsequently through a regular and pacific procedure. It is in this spirit that the annexed proposal for settlement indicates that France will agree, if the Siamese Government expresses the desire, to the establishment of a conciliation commission of the type provided for in the General Act of Geneva, of September 26 1928, for the pacific settlement of international disputes⁹¹ by application of Article 21 of the Franco-Siamese Treaty of December 7, 1937.

But the French Government cannot consent to the Siamese Government’s attempting to seek the conclusion of an agreement which might contain any provisions relating to territory before the liquidation of its war policy as a satellite of Japan is entirely completed. Siam now retains the profit from this policy by occupying, contrary to all right, territories which it acquired by violence to the detriment of their legitimate owners, the Kingdoms of Cambodia and Laos, and for which the French Government bears the responsibility to the Governments of these two countries. It would be clearly contrary to international ethics that, without giving in advance real proof of its sincerity by renouncing the profits illegitimately acquired five years ago by a flagrant violation of the fundamental principles of international law, if Siam could, merely by an expression of adherence to those same principles on which the institution of the United Nations rests, seek new advantages which it hopes to obtain therefrom.

The dispute begun between Siam on the one hand, France, Cambodia and Laos on the other, by the Siamese aggression of December, 1940, may be ended only by return in law and in fact to the status quo ante bellum. Then only, in the opinion of the French Government, will it be legitimately possible for Siam to request recourse to a pacific procedure of examination of the adjustments which it might be deemed advisable to make in the treaties from which Siam deliberately departed in 1940.

The French Government deems, further, that to permit Siam to discuss, while remaining in possession of the fruits of its aggression, its possible right to retain a part thereof, however small it may be, would be not only to violate the law and create a precedent at the same time profoundly shocking and eminently dangerous, but to render Siam itself the poorest service. All the provisions of the Convention of May 9, 1941 should, before any negotiation, be entirely annulled.

In view of these considerations, the proposals contained in the annexed document are self-explanatory. The French Government expresses the hope that the American Government may agree, within the framework of the good offices the valued benefit of which it has been so good as to assure to it, not only to present them to the Siamese Delegation, but to recommend them to the acceptance of the Siamese Government in the interest of the reestablishment of peace and the return of prosperity in South Eastern Asia.

The Ambassador of France thanks the Acting Secretary of State in advance for whatever he may be so good as to do to that end, and avails himself [etc.].

[Annex—Translation]

Proposed Franco-Siamese Settlement⁹²

The Government of the French Republic and the Siamese Government have agreed to put an end to the dispute between them on the following bases:

1) Verification of the nullity of the Convention of May 9, 1941 which shall be declared by the Siamese Government null and void. As a result, the Indochinese territories occupied by Siam will be transferred to the French authorities, to be returned to the Cambodian and Laotian Governments.

2) After the return to the status quo ante putting an end to the state of war between France and Siam, diplomatic relations will be immediately reestablished and intercourse between the two countries will again be governed by the Treaty of December 7, 1937 and by the Commercial and Customs Arrangement of December 9, 1937.⁹³ Siam will withdraw the complaint which it has brought before the Security Council; France will no longer oppose the entry of Siam into the United Nations.

3) As soon as the Siamese Government has declared the Convention of May 9, 1941 null and void, France will agree that there be established, by application of Article 21 of the Franco-Siamese Treaty of December 7, 1937, a conciliation commission composed of two representatives of the Parties and three neutrals, in conformity with the General Act of Geneva of September 26, 1928 for the “pacific settlement of international disputes”, which governs the establishment and functioning of the commission.

The commission will begin its work immediately after the execution of the provisions of Article 1 of the present proposal for settlement. It will be charged with examining the ethnic, geographic and economic arguments of the Parties in favor of the amendment or the confirmation of the clauses of the Treaty of March 23, 1907, maintained in force by Article 22 of the Treaty of December 7, 1937^*.

4) Upon the reestablishment of diplomatic relations, negotiations will be opened for the settlement of all the questions pending between the two countries and, particularly, for the determination on the one hand of the indemnities to be paid by the Siamese Government in compensation for the damage suffered by the act of Siam by French or Indochinese property, rights and interests and, on the other, of the sums to be entered to the credit of the Siamese Government.

91. League of Nations Treaty Series, vol. xciii, p. 343.
92. Entitled “Projet de Règlement Franco-Siamois” in the French Ambassador’s note.
93. Commercial and Customs Agreement between France and Siam, signed at Bangkok, British and Foreign State Papers, vol. cxli, p. 1009.
94. A definition of the competence of the Commission has been suggested in analogous terms by the Siamese Delegation in Washington. [Footnote in the original.]