Page:Pentagon-Papers-Part V. B. 3. a.djvu/169

 FW 795.00/8-733: Confidential File

1. The armistice in Korea having come into force, it seems indispensable to the French Government to review at this time the exchange of views at Washington between the Foreign Minister, Mr. Foster Dulles and Lord Salisbury, concerning the raising of the question of Indochina in the course of political negotiations which are to follow the armistice.

The Foreign Minister on July 14 submitted to his American and British colleagues a memorandum on this question. The present aide-memoire is intended to spell out certain points contained in that memorandum.

2. The interdependence of the two conflicts in Korea and Indochina is acknowledged, since it has been emphasized at different times in the communiques of the three Powers, and has been affirmed by President Eisenhower and Mr. Foster Dulles. As is recalled in the Declaration of the Sixteen Powers, It will be inconceivable that the armistice In Korea might result in preventing the establishment or the maintenance of peace in another part of Asia, in increasing the support given by China to the Viet Minh, and In aiding in this manner the spread of Communism. It will be incomprehensible if anything is overlooked in trying to extend to Southeast Asia, and in particular to Indochina, the benefits of the relaxation that it is hoped will arise from the end of hostilities in Korea.

The question thus arises of knowing by what means and with what immediate objectives one might associate a solution of the Indochina conflict with the settlement of problems with which the Political Conference, called for by the armistice agreement, will deal.

3. With regard to the means, Article 60 of the armistice agreement, by means of the phrase "etc." does not rule out, in principle, that the Indochina question (a) might be formally included, as such, in the agenda of the Conference, (b) or might be taken up in the Rh