Foreign Relations of the United States, 1952–1954, The Geneva Conference, Volume XVI

Conference files, lot 60 D 627, CF 285

Meeting of the Six on Indochina, Geneva, May 14, Morning: Memorandum by the Special Adviser to the United States Delegation (Heath) to the Head of the Delegation (Smith)¹

secret

[Geneva,] May 14, 1954.

The following summarizes the results of the meeting of the Six on Indochina this morning:

1) Bidault will analyze the Vietminh proposals. He will support Viet-Nam’s contention that Bao Dai’s government is the only legal government of Viet-Nam. He does not propose to deal with the Vietnamese proposals (Vietnamese representative not too happy about this). Bidault’s speech will also contain replies to the questions posed by Eden. He will advocate the separating out of Laos and Cambodia.

2) There was discussion as to whether it might be advisable today to propose that the delegations meet in a restricted form, i.e., the heads of delegations with two or three experts apiece in order to see whether better progress could not be made in that way. It is my understanding that Bidault will allude to this possibility.

3) There was also some discussion as to the desirability of setting up special working committees to deal with the questions of Laos and Cambodia. It was agreed that such a suggestion should only be made in the proposed restricted groups since that [sic] to raise this possibility now would probably produce a revival of the debate on the so-called resistance governments in Laos and Cambodia.

4) Several delegations expressed the view that plenary sessions should continue until Molotov has spoken particularly with respect to the Eden questions.

1. Drafted by Bonsal.