751G.92/120
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Under Secretary of State (Welles)
The French Ambassador called to see me at my request. The Ambassador read to me a telegram which he had received direct from Admiral Decoux, Governor General of French Indochina, a couple of days ago. Admiral Decoux maintained in his telegram that the Thais were continuously provoking clashes with the French troops along the border and that this state of affairs seemed to be getting worse rather than better. The Admiral further maintained that the attitude of Thailand was being encouraged and stimulated by a “third power”. He then went on to refer to the alleged representation made by the British Minister in Bangkok to the Thai Government in which the Minister was represented as having maintained that the British Government fully sympathized with the attitude of the Thai Government in demanding territorial restorations at the expense of Indochina. At the conclusion of his telegram, however, Admiral Decoux gave the Ambassador definitely to understand that the “third power” to which he referred was not Great Britain but Japan and insisted that the Thais were being stirred up deliberately by Japan with the proposed purpose in mind of creating such a situation between Thailand and Indochina as to give Japan a pretext for moving in to stop the fighting which would result and to occupy Saigon and presumably Thailand itself. The Ambassador stated that he would let me have any further information he received from Admiral Decoux.