Foreign Relations of the United States, 1952–1954, Indochina, Volume XIII, Part 1

751H.00/4–2154

Memorandum of Conversation, by the Assistant Secretary of State for United Nations Affairs (Key)¹

confidential

[Washington,] April 21, 1954.

Subject:

• Cambodian Complaint to the UN.

Participants:

• Ambassador Nong Kimny of Cambodia
• Mr. Key, Assistant Secretary, UNA
• Miss Bacon, FE
• Mr. Stein, UNP

In response to Ambassador Nong’s request for our advice on the proposed Cambodian complaint to the UN, I called him in to give him the views of the Secretary.

I said that in the Secretary’s view there is a paramount need to preserve the unity of the free nations at the Geneva Conference and that any steps which might cause a strain on this unity should be avoided. Accordingly, the Secretary thought that the Cambodian Government could profitably submit a general appeal to the UN focusing world attention upon the invasion of his country without, however, requesting any specific UN action at this time. I added that this general appeal would be without prejudice to whatever future action the Cambodian Government may request from the UN in the light of developments and particularly in the light of the developments in Geneva. I suggested that a communication setting forth in detail the aggression against Cambodia might be directed to the Secretary General with a request that he communicate it to all UN Members and with a specific reservation of the right to request further action at some future date.

The Ambassador indicated that his government has decided to make every effort to deal with the situation without friendly assistance from abroad and that the Secretary’s suggestion might well fit into this context; he realized that while no UN action would take place, the general appeal would lay a foundation for a further request for such action if future developments would warrant it and he saw an advantage in that. He said that his present instructions give him some flexibility and he would like to think over night what he should do and what recommendation he should make to his government. He indicated definite interest in the Secretary’s suggestion and thought that his government might view it favorably.

He added that he could not see that the Cambodian position would suffer if no action is requested in the UN in view of the fact that only five days remain before the opening of the Geneva Conference and only a “few weeks” before the collective defense for South East Asia is organized. He wondered whether precedents exist for the suggested general communication and was answered in the affirmative. He asked for our assistance in drafting the communication and I assured him of our readiness to help.²

David Mck. Key

1. Drafted by Eric Stein of UNP on Apr. 22.
2. Cambodia had in fact already released a general communication of the type here suggested. On Apr. 14, the Cambodian Government had issued an appeal to the world and to the United Nations protesting Viet Minh attacks on Cambodia. The appeal called the situation to the attention of the conscience of the world but did not request any specific action by the United Nations or individual countries. The Cambodian appeal is summarized in telegram 2033 from Saigon, Apr. 17 (751H.13/4–1754); a translation of the text is contained in telegram 2069 from Saigon, Apr. 23 (751H.00/4–2354).