751G.00/7–2154: Telegram
Eighth Plenary Session on Indochina, Geneva, July 21, 3:10 p.m.: The United States Delegation to the Department of State
Secto 711. Repeated information Saigon niact 94, Vientiane 8, Phnom Penh 13, Hanoi niact 7, Paris 125, Tokyo 13, London 27, Moscow 16. Tokyo pass CINCFE. Department for press backstop. Text follows of statement made by General Smith at concluding Indochina plenary, July 21.1 Release made here 1630 Geneva time. Request Department release immediately. Other addressees may also release as deemed appropriate.
“As I stated on July 18,2 my government is not prepared to join in a declaration by the conference such as is submitted. However, the United States makes this unilateral declaration of its position in these matters:
Declaration
The Government of the United States being resolved to devote its efforts to the strengthening of peace in accordance with the principles and purposes of the United Nations takes note of the agreements concluded at Geneva on July 20 and 21, 1954 between the (a) Franco-Laotian command and the command of the Peoples Army of VietNam; (b) the Royal Khmer Army Command and the command of the Peoples Army of Viet-Nam; (c) Franco-Vietnamese command and the command of the Peoples Army of Vietnam and of paragraphs 1 to 12 inclusive of the declaration presented to the Geneva Conference on July 21, 1954 declares with regard to the aforesaid agreements and paragraphs that (i) it will refrain from the threat or the use of force to disturb them, in accordance with Article 2 (4) of the Charter of the United Nations dealing with the obligation of members to refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force; and (ii) it will view any renewal of the aggression in violation of the aforesaid agreements with grave concern and as seriously threatening international peace and security.
In connection with the statement in the declaration concerning free elections in Vietnam, my government wishes to make clear its position which it has expressed in a declaration made in Washington on June 29, 1954,3 as follows:
‘In the case of nations, now divided against their will, we shall continue to seek to achieve unity through free elections, supervised by the United Nations to insure that they are conducted fairly.’
With respect to the statement made by the representative of the State of Vietnam, the United States reiterates its traditional position that peoples are entitled to determine their own future and that it will not join in an arrangement which would hinder this. Nothing in its declaration just made is intended to or does indicate any departure from this traditional position.
We share the hope that the agreements will permit Cambodia, Laos and Viet-Nam to play their part in full independence and sovereignty, in the peaceful community of nations, and will enable the peoples of that area to determine their own future.”
- Smith’s statement and the unilateral U.S. declaration are also printed in the Department of State Bulletin, Aug. 2, 1954, pp. 162–163 and in Cmd. 9239, pp. 6–7.↩
- Smith’s statement made in the Twenty-third Restricted Session on Indochina, July 18, was contained in telegram Secto 654, July 18, p. 1431.↩
- A reference to the joint statement issued by President Eisenhower and Prime Minister Churchill in Washington on June 29; see editorial note, p. 1260.↩