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  4. Document 79

79. Backchannel Message 0124 From the U.S. Air Attaché to France (Oveson) to the President’s Deputy Assistant for National Security Affairs (Scowcroft), July 17, 1975, 0944Z.1 2

July 17, 1975, 0944Z

O 172944Z JUL 75

TO: GENERAL SCOWCROFT THE WHITE HOUSE
FROM: COL OVESON PARIS

THE FOLLOWING MESSAGE WAS RECEIVED FROM CUSTOMER AT 1000 HOURS THIS DATE:

QUOTE.

THE DRVN SIDE HAS RECEIVED AND CAREFULLY CONSIDERED THE US MESSAGE DATED JUNE 11, 1975.

THE DRVN POINT OF VIEW REGARDING THE NORMALIZATION OF RELATIONS BETWEEN THE DRVN AND THE US HAS BEEN CLEARLY EXPOUNDED: “NOW THAT THE WAR HAS ENDED AND PEACE HAS BEEN RESTORED IN THE WHOLE OF VIETNAM. ALL POSTWAR QUESTIONS CONCERNING VIETNAM AND THE UNITED STATES, SUCH AS THE U.S. CONTRIBUTION TO HEALING THE WOUNDS OF WAR IN THE TWO ZONES OF VIETNAM, THE SEARCH FOR MIA’S, THE EXHUMATION AND REPATRIATION OF THE REMAINS OF THE AMERICAN DEAD, ARE THE OUTSTANDING QUESTIONS THAT CALL FOR AN EARLY SOLUTION. THE GOVERNMENT OF THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF VIETNAM IS PREPARED TO TALK WITH THE US GOVERNMENT SO AS TO SETTLE THESE QUESTIONS. AT THE SAME TIME, IT REAFFIRMS THAT THE US RESPECT FOR THE VIETNAMESE PEOPLE’S FUNDAMENTAL NATIONAL RIGHTS, THE TOTAL CESSATION OF ITS INTERFERENCE IN THE INTERNAL AFFAIRS OF SOUTH VIETNAM, AND THE FULFILLMENT OF ITS OBLIGATION TO CONTRIBUTE TO THE HEALING OF THE WOUNDS OF WAR AND TO POSTWAR RECONSTRUCTION IN BOTH ZONES OF VIETNAM, WILL CREATE CONDITIONS FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF NORMAL RELATIONS BETWEEN THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF VIETNAM AND THE UNITED STATES, IN THE SPIRIT OF ARTICLE 22 OF THE PARIS AGREEMENT”.

THE DRVN SIDE’S ATTITUDE IS ONE OF SERIOUSNESS AND GOODWILL VIS-A-VIS THE US DESIRE FOR BILATERAL RELATIONS EXPRESSED IN THE US MESSAGE OF JUNE 12, 1975. UNQUOTE.
WARM REGARDS

  1. Source: Ford Library, National Security Adviser, NSC East Asian and Pacific Affairs Staff Files, Box 11, Vietnam (11). Top Secret; Sensitive; Exclusively Eyes Only. On August 9 the DRV again contacted the Embassy in France with an offer to return to the United States the remains of three U.S. servicemen killed during the Vietnam War. (Telegram 20633 from Paris, 9 August, ibid.)↩
  2. Oveson sent the text of the DRV response to Scowcroft.↩