74. Editorial Note

The objective of United States policy in the dispute between India and Portugal over Goa was to encourage a peaceful settlement and thereby preserve and strengthen friendly relations with both countries. Portugal was a NATO Ally in whose territories the United States maintained, and wished to expand, military bases. The United States perceived India, the largest power in South Asia, as a friendly neutral country with which the United States and the Soviet Union were each working for closer ties. Major documentation on United States policy on Goa is in Department of State, Central Files 653.9113, 753.13, and 753D.00; ibid., EUR Files: Lot 59 D 108; ibid., Conference Files: Lot 62 D 181, CF 830; and ibid., Secretary’s Memoranda of Conversation: Lot 64 D 199.