501.BC Indonesia/7–2447
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Associate Chief of the Division of Northern European Affairs (Morgan)55
| Participants: | The Secretary |
| The newly appointed Netherlands Ambassador, Dr. Eelco van Kleffens | |
| The Netherlands Chargé d’Affaires, Jonkheer O. Reuchlin | |
| Mr. H. Charles Spruks, S/S–PR | |
| Mr. John H. Morgan, NOE |
After the usual remarks of protocol and a general conversation on economic conditions in the Netherlands and in Europe, the Secretary inquired whether the Netherlands in submitting a note to the Secretary General of the United Nations concerning its action in Indonesia had meant to acknowledge that the dispute was not an internal matter but within the competence of the United Nations. The Ambassador replied that when the question of the presence of British troops in Indonesia was brought before the Security Council by the Ukraine in February 1946,56 the Netherlands Government had maintained that the situation in Indonesia was a purely internal matter and it had been supported in this view by a vote of 9–2 in the Security Council. The Netherlands Government had nevertheless recognized the general interest in the question of the eventual status of the Indonesian people and had stated that it would inform the Security Council of the agreement finally reached. It had, therefore, later informed the Council of the conclusion of the Linggadjati Agreement and had now in the same spirit informed the Security Council of the failure of efforts to implement that Agreement.
The Secretary inquired whether the Netherlands Government proposed to reopen negotiations. The Ambassador replied that he did not think the present was an appropriate moment for negotiation but that the Netherlands Government intended in all sincerity to carry out the obligations which it had assumed under the Linggadjati Agreement as soon as there had established itself a group of Indonesians truly representative of the Indonesian people with whom negotiations on a responsible basis could be resumed. The Ambassador stated that the Netherlands had no desire to reimpose a colonial system upon the Indonesians but that it felt that the present Indonesian Government [Page 987] was dominated by a minority group of extremists unrepresentative of the real sentiments of the Indonesian people. The Ambassador having stated and restated this thesis at great length, there remained no time in which the Secretary could inquire what the attitude of the Netherlands Government might be toward the possibility of the Indonesian dispute being brought before the Security Council by a friendly state in order to forestall such action by one of the Soviet or Asiatic states unfriendly to the Netherlands. In escorting the Ambassador from the Secretary’s office, Mr. Morgan, however, took the occasion to put this question to the Ambassador who stated that from his considerable experience in United Nations affairs, he felt that there would be no advantage in having the question raised by one of the Western democracies; that if the question were raised by the Soviets, India or the Philippines, the Netherlands would simply stand upon its record as it had done heretofore. He was confident that it would be impossible to show that international peace was threatened by the Netherlands military action in Indonesia which continued to be a purely internal matter. He felt sure that he expressed his Government’s view in saying that he saw no advantage in having the matter raised first by a friendly power. He felt that however well meant such action might be, it would be in practice quite impossible to prevent a Soviet or Asiatic state from pursuing its own point of view regardless of the basis on which the question had been originally introduced.
- Initialed by the Secretary of State.↩
- See memorandum of February 7, 1946, by the Director of the Office of Far Eastern Affairs, and footnote 41, Foreign Relations, 1946, vol. viii, p. 804.↩