Editorial Note
On November 16 and 17, 1953, a United States Delegation consisting of Henry R. Labouisse, Harry Conover, and Robert B. Hill of the Embassy in Paris; Sidney B. Jacques of the U.S. Delegation to COCOM; and those officials from the various agencies in Washington named in footnote 3, page 1039, held three sessions with a French Delegation in Paris headed by Pierre Charpentier to discuss overall policy toward East-West trade controls. Reports of these meetings were transmitted in despatches 1314, November 16; 1322, [Page 1061] November 17; and 1343, November 18, all from Paris. (460.509/11– 1653; /11–1753; 711–1853) In response to a United States presentation nearly identical to that made in London, November 3–6 (see despatch 1714, November 10, page 1039), the French indicated that they were generally in agreement with the United States position. The operative statement appears to have been contained in paragraph 4 of despatch 1314:
“4. As to the general US policies, M. Charpentier stated that there appeared to be no French disagreement. France equally believed that the West should not endeavor to impose a blockade on the Soviet Bloc and that less emphasis should be placed in COCOM on discussions on lists and quotas and more on means of coping with violations of export controls. He would agree that the dangers of diversions were significant and that means of evading existing controls were now widespread. He therefore felt that every country should have the same type of controls. France, for example, has transaction controls that she believes are effective and which have yielded a great deal of information. Nevertheless, France does not propose to continue these transaction controls unless other countries are prepared to adopt similar ones. Thus, if the UK does not control transactions, France will discontinue its controls in this field.”