61. Telegram 238679 From the Department of State to Certain Diplomatic Posts, December 6, 1973, 0109Z.1 2
TELEGRAM
Department of State
238679
R 060109Z DEC 73
FM SECSTATE WASHDC
TO AMEMBASSY ABIDJAN
AMEMBASSY
ACCRA
AMEMBASSY ADDIS ABABA
AMEMBASSY ATHENS
AMEMBASSY
BANGUI
AMEMBASSY BANGKOK
AMEMBASSY BLANTYRE
AMEMBASSY
BONN
AMEMBASSY BUENOS AIRES
AMEMBASSY CANBERRA
AMEMBASSY
COPENHAGEN
AMEMBASSY COTONOU
AMEMBASSY DUBLIN
AMEMBASSY
FREETOWN
AMEMBASSY GABORONE
AMEMBASSY GEORGETOWN
AMEMBASSY
HELSINKI
AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD
AMEMBASSY JAKARTA
AMEMBASSY
KATHMANDU
AMEMBASSY KHARTOUM
AMEMBASSY KINGSTON
AMEMBASSY
KIGALI
AMEMBASSY KINSHASA
AMEMBASSY KUALA LUMPUR
AMEMBASSY
LAGOS
AMEMBASSY LIBREVILLE
AMEMBASSY LIMA
AMEMBASSY
LISBON
AMEMBASSY LOME
AMEMBASSY LUSAKA
AMEMBASSY
LUXEMBOURG
AMEMBASSY MASERU
AMEMBASSY MADRID
AMEMBASSY
MANILA
AMEMBASSY MBABANE
AMEMBASSY MEXICO
AMEMBASSY
MONROVIA
AMEMBASSY NAIROBI
AMEMBASSY NASSAU
AMEMBASSY
NDJAMENA
AMEMBASSY NIAMEY
AMEMBASSY NICOSIA
AMEMBASSY
NOUAKCHOTT
AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI
AMEMBASSY
OUAGADOUGOU
AMEMBASSY OSLO
AMEMBASSY PANAMA
AMEMBASSY
PARIS
AMEMBASSY PHNOM PENH
AMEMBASSY PORT LOUIS
AMEMBASSY
QUITO
AMEMBASSY RABAT
AMEMBASSY REYKJAVIK
AMEMBASSY
ROME
AMEMBASSY SANTIAGO
AMEMBASSY SINGAPORE
AMEMBASSY
STOCKHOLM
AMEMBASSY TEHRAN
AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV
AMEMBASSY
TOKYO
AMEMBASSY TUNIS
AMEMBASSY VALLETTA
AMEMBASSY
VIENNA
AMEMBASSY VIENTIANE
AMEMBASSY WELLINGTON
USMISSION
USUN NEW YORK
AMEMBASSY BANJUL
BY POUCH
AMEMBASSY SUVA BY POUCH
STATE 238679
E.O. 11652: GDS
TAGS: PFOR, UN, CB
SUBJECT: KHMER REPRESENTATION IN 28TH UNGA
1. UNGA DECEMBER 5 DECIDED TO POSTPONE KHMER REPRESENTATION ITEM TO 29TH UNGA. VOTE IN PLENARY WAS 53 (US) TO 50 WITH 21 ABSTENTIONS. FOR USG, DEFERRAL REPRESENTS IMPORTANT DEFENSIVE SUCCESS AGAINST SERIOUS CHALLENGE OF PRO-SIHANOUK “NON-ALIGNED” AND COMMUNISTS. DEPT EXTENDS WARM THANKS TO ADDRESSEE POSTS FOR THEIR INDISPENSABLE CONTRIBUTIONS TO USUN’S OUTSTANDING EFFORTS TO SNATCH SUCCESS FROM WHAT AT TIMES APPEARED NEAR-INEVITABLE DEFEAT.
2. AS POSTS AWARE, WE HAVE SOUGHT TO KEEP KHMER ISSUE ACTIVELY BEFORE GOVTS IN NEW YORK AND IN CAPITALS, WHEREVER THERE WAS EVEN SMALLEST CHANCE OF MOVEMENT ON ISSUE. WE HOPED THAT BETWEEN PRESSURES BY FRIENDLY ASIANS AND USG ON ONE SIDE AND RADICAL NON-ALIGNEDS AND PRC ON OTHER, MANY NON-COMMITTED DELS WOULD RESPOND TO OPPORTUNITY TO FINESSE ISSUE BY DEFERMENT. EVIDENTLY THIS TACTIC WORKED IN ENOUGH CASES TO WIN ADOPTION OF DEFERMENT MOTION RAISED ORALLY BY LIBERIAN PERMREP EVENING DECEMBER 5. AS RESULT PRO-SIHANOUK RES WAS NOT PUT TO VOTE. CAMPAIGN AGAINST PRO-SIHANOUK ITEM PARTICULARLY NOTABLE AS FIRST OCCASION IN UN WHERE SEASIANS TOOK LEAD ON SUBJECT OF DIRECT CONCERN TO THEM AND FOLLOWED THROUGH, ASSISTED SUBSTANTIALLY BY JAPAN AND US.
3. PRIOR TO ADJOURNMENT, DEBATE ON PRO-SIHANOUK RES SPANNED TWO DAYS WITH SOME 30 SPEAKERS. SIHANOUK SUPPORTERS, LED BY THE PRC AND ALGERIA, INDICATED DEFERRAL UNACCEPTABLE AND REFUSED TO COMPROMISE. STATEMENTS IN SUPPORT OF GKR OR OF NON-ACTION WERE HEARD FROM CAMBODIA’S SOUTHEAST ASIAN NEIGHBORS, JAPAN, THE US, AND A SPRINKLING OF MODERATE NON-ALIGNED.
4. VOTING LISTS WILL BE SENT SEPTEL. IN EXPRESSING OUR GRATITUDE TO HOST GOVTS WHERE APPROPRIATE, YOU SHOULD STRESS THAT ADJOURNMENT SPARED UN AND ITS MEMBERSHIP A POTENTIALLY DAMAGING PRECEDENT. THOSE WHO SUPPORTED DEFERMENT OPTED FOR A COMMON-SENSE SOLUTION WHICH KEEPS DOOR OPEN FOR POLITICAL RECONCILIATION OF CAMBODIAN FACTIONS. IN THIS CONNECTION, WE PARTICULARLY APPRECIATIVE SUPPORT FROM THOSE NON-ALIGNED WHO SUPPORTED PRACTICAL OUTCOME RATHER THAN CLING TO DOCTRINAIRE LINE RAILROADED THROUGH ALGIERS CONFERENCE BY “NON-ALIGNED” MILITANTS. KISSINGER
- Source: National Archives, RG 59, Central Foreign Policy Files. Confidential. Drafted by Kimball, Krebs, and Stull; cleared in draft by McNutt and Antippas; and approved by Herz. Repeated to USUN. ↩
- The Department expressed appreciation for the role posts and foreign governments played in the successful postponement of the Cambodian representation question until the 29th United Nations General Assembly.↩