740.5/12–1751: Telegram
The Ambassador in the United Kingdom (Gifford) to the Secretary of State
2764. During recent brief conversation with Le Roy, Counselor Fr Emb London, who attended NATO talks in Rome last month, Emb officer informed that De Lattre highly chagrined over failure discuss [Page 124] SEA defense problems, he being obsessed with prospect of Chi Commie intervention in Indochina once armistice has been arranged in Korea. Le Roy said highly probable Churchill1 and Eden wld be urged by Fr in today’s talk following matter up during Washington talks next month.2
At FonOff this morning Emb officer broached subject with Scott3 who expressed informal views about SEA as follows:
On Far East specialist level, in both Paris and London, there was general feeling that it wld be highly desirable have a general review of SEA problems, and that three principal western nations shld attempt coordinate their thinking and planning. If there is to be a containment of Chi Commies it shld be consistent: They were being contained in Korea; mutual security arrangements were being worked out between US and Jap and US and Phil; Formosa had been sealed off by action by Seventh Fleet and US military assistance to nationalist govt; but no similar steps had been taken to ward off Chi Commie expansion southward. Neither UK nor Fr, anymore than US, were anxious to take on any additional military responsibilities in Asia, but certainly no harm wld come of exploratory talks on political problems involved leading perhaps to joint military study of such questions as logistics, prevention of arms smuggling, defensibility of Indochina, Thailand and Burma, what SEA nations cld be expected to contribute, their will to resist, man power needed from Western nations and sources of man power, etc. Any such discussions, it was emphasized, wld be exploratory in nature and no attempt wld be made commit participants to any particular course of action.
Scott said that so far as he knew no thorough Ministerial consideration had been given to problem here and it was his impression Schuman not entirely sold on it. If however, Schuman did raise issue in today’s talks in Paris4 it was quite possible Churchill, influenced in part by papers already submitted to Ministers here, wld agree discuss in Wash.
Dept pass Saigon; sent Dept 2764, rptd info Paris 1285, Saigon 16. Deptel 3517, Dec 15 to Paris, rptd London 2941, Saigon 803.5
- Winston S. Churchill, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom since October 26.↩
- Prime Minister Churchill met with President Truman in Washington on January 7–8, 1952. Information on the origins of this conference is scheduled for publication in volume iv.↩
- Robert H. Scott, Assistant Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, British Foreign Office.↩
- Prime Minister Churchill and Foreign Secretary Eden conferred with French Premier René Pleven and Foreign Minister Schuman in Paris on December 17–18, discussing various European, Middle Eastern, and Far Eastern problems.↩
- Not printed.↩