751G.92/129: Telegram
The Chargé in France (Murphy) to the Secretary of State
[Received December 16—11:05 a.m.]
1141. Chauvel showed me last evening the telegraphic instruction of December 13 to Henry-Haye directing him to inform the Department regarding the French decision to decline Japan’s offer to arbitrate the Indochina–Thailand conflict.75 Its transmission was delayed because of the Government crisis. The instruction recognizes the position of the United States regarding the maintenance of the status quo in the Orient as made clear by the Department in the past. It emphasizes the need for economic cooperation between the French colony and the United States and the necessity for the latter’s support in respect of the four battalions of troops from Djibouti, aviation equipment and generally a helping hand to strengthen the colony’s powers of resistance of Japanese encroachment.
Any encouragement which could possibly be given the French to crystallize their natural desire to put a bold front in Indochina would, viewed from here, be most timely.
- No record of such statement by the French Ambassador has been found in Department files.↩