751G.00/6–2354: Telegram
The United States Delegation to the Department of State
Secto 514. Repeated information Saigon 204, Paris 491, Vientiane 5. Laotian delegation met with Pham Van Dong, Viet Minh delegate, alone this afternoon in garden of Chinese delegation’s villa.
Dong was very “amiable”. He seemed to agree that Viet Minh forces should be withdrawn and disposed to admit that French keep treaty military bases. He also admitted to continuation of French cadres and training missions but said French military personnel must be reduced to minimum figures which would be agreed upon in talks between representatives of the Franco-Vietnamese and Viet Minh commands scheduled to begin in Geneva about June 26. Dong asked very insistently whether there was any military pact with the United States. The Laotians answered negatively not considering the Military Assistance Agreement of 1950 (pentalateral) to fall in that category. Laotian delegate agreed to ask Laotian Premier, Souvanna Phouma, to meet with his half brother (Souphanavong, leader of the Free Lao Movement) in the immediate future. Dong then suggested, without insistence, that Laotian Government might give some government jobs to members of the “Free Lao Movement” thus creating a government of “national union”. In the next elections, the latter could present their candidacies for the Laotian Assembly. Then Dong mentioned vaguely that some sort of a “temporary arrangement” might be made for administration of those regions where the Free Lao Movement Military Forces were located. This suggestion worries the Laotian delegation.
After the talk with Dong, Ourot Souvannavong, Laotian Minister to Washington, had a talk with Tran Cong Tuong, member and translator on Viet Minh delegation. They had attended school together in Saigon. Tuong referred to the execution of a former fellow-schoolmate saying that the latter had been a non-Communist nationalist member [Page 1233] of Viet Minh and no obstacle could stop the Communist domination of movement. Tuong also said that he was certain the Laotian Government would find that the Laotian Resistance Movement was much stronger and better implanted than was believed in Vientiane.
Ourot Souvannavong agreed to our suggestion that it would be well for the Laotian delegation to make no major commitments to the Viet Minh until they saw where the latter’s proposals were leading. He said he would keep the American delegation fully and promptly informed of developments.