751G.02/6–1950: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Embassy in France
2953. For Bruce from Rusk. Dept aware of Fr desire to maintain Pau conf on a technical level and to keep it a “family affair.” These and the other points brought out in Embtel 2896, June 15 and Saigon’s 478, June 19,1 have been noted and Dept agrees with Paris and Saigon views in this matter.
However, in ur discretion, and if you believe that it wld serve a useful purpose, you may wish to bring to Schuman’s attn Dept’s thinking with regard to the possibility of using occasion of the Pau conf to counteract certain of the wide-spread misunderstandings which [Page 828] exist concerning the relationship of France and the Govts of Cambodia, Laos, and Viet Nam and the nature of their independent status within the Fr Union.
The holding of the conf might provide a useful opportunity to publicize extent and nature of Fr concessions to the IC states and progress made since the declaration of the Baie d’Along.2 Also the purpose for which the interstate conf was called, the nature of its agenda and its accomplishments in formalizing the independence of the three states within the Fr Union may offer opportunities for favorable publicity.
During the course of the mtgs or immed fol them an opportunity might be found to make a public declaration re the conf and Fr intentions by a high ranking official (perhaps Pres Auriol as Pres of the Fr Union) which cld usefully be publicized. Bao Dai, of course, might be encouraged to make a similar declaration at the same time.
Pls assure Mr. Schuman that in presuming to make suggestions to him concerning what the US Govt recognizes is a family affair between Fr and the members of the Fr Union we are giving the most sympathetic consideration to the weight of France’s obligations as having primary responsibility for the area of Indochina and seek only to reduce the burden of such responsibilities by suggesting that full use be made of a unique opportunity to make the extent and true nature of the concessions made by Fr to the Associated States known.
It is not necessary to remind the Fon Min that in the US, as in other countries, there is a growing uneasiness in sections of the press and public opinion—a tendency to misinterpret present and future Fr intentions in Indochina and to regard Emperor Bao Dai as a “Fr puppet”. This same press and public opinion is often unaware of the heavy sacrifices in lives and money made by the mother country in establishing and helping to maintain the integrity of the new Independent States within the Fr Union. Similar misunderstandings are encountered to a much greater degree in Asiatic countries. To use the circumstance of the Interstate Conference as a means of helping to dispel such impressions through the power of the printed word, public statements and other publicity is in Dept’s opinion a course which can only lighten the burden of Fr and her allies with respect to Indochina.
Believe we shld limit our efforts with the Fr now to securing the points outlined above rather than striving to influence the agenda [Page 829] of a family discussion. If you think it feasible we can consider further steps to strive to influence the course of the conference itself. [Rusk.]
- Neither printed.↩
- For documentation on the French-Vietnamese negotiations leading to the Ha Long Bay (Baie d’Along) Agreement of June 5, 1948, see Foreign Relations, 1948, vol. vi, pp. 19 ff. For the text of the agreement, see France, Journal Officiel de la République Française, Lois et Décrets (March 14, 1953), p. 2409. An English translation appears in Cameron, p. 117.↩