856e.00/8–248
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Director of the Office of Far Eastern Affairs (Butterworth)
| Participants: | Mr. H. A. Helb, Counselor, Netherlands Embassy |
| Mr. W. Walton Butterworth, Director, FE | |
| Mr. Charles S. Reed II, Chief, SEA |
Mr. Helb was informed that the “oral note” outlining the views of the Netherlands Government vis-à-vis the forthcoming GOC negotiations, which had been delivered by the Netherlands Ambassador on July 22, had been carefully studied. It was accepted as a statement of the position of the Netherlands Government but it could not be considered as a legal document in any way binding the United States Government, even though the latter agreed generally with the contents of the note. This was particularly so as Mr. Cochran, though an officer of the United States Government, is a representative of the SC and will function as such during the forthcoming GOC negotiations. Mr. Helb agreed that such was the case and said that the note merely clarified his Government’s desire that, upon request of one or both of the parties, the GOC should bring forth a plan. In further discussion of the note it was concluded that the mentioned time limit of two months was merely indicative of the urgent need of arriving at an agreement between the Netherlands Government and the Republic and of course that period could be shortened or even lengthened depending upon circumstances.
Mr. Helb said that it was regrettable that the new Netherlands Government had not been formed as yet, but he believed that even though that Government had not been formed Mr. Cochran would be able to discuss with profit the Indonesian situation and the Netherlands Government position with permanent Foreign Office personnel.
Mr. Helb stated that the communist situation was becoming very serious in Indonesia and reported that his Government might have to take action against the communists. It was admitted that it would be difficult to distinguish between the communists posing as nationalists and real nationalists and I suggested that the worsening situation seemed to indicate the need for arriving at a speedy settlement of the situation. In the course of this discussion Mr. Helb said he feared that [Page 297] communists from Malaya, as the campaign went against them, would go to Sumatra. He promised to keep the Department informed as to his Government’s plans for an anti-communist campaign.