795.00/6–2751
Memorandum of Conversation, by G. McMurtrie Godley of the Office of Western European Affairs
Subject: Mr. Malik’s Proposal
| Participants: | Mr. Daridan, Chargé d’Affaires, French Embassy |
| Mr. Berard, First Secretary, French Embassy | |
| Mr. Webb—U | |
| Mr. Kopper—NE1 | |
| Mr. Godley—WE |
At the end of a conversation this morning on other matters Mr. Daridan inquired as to our reaction to Ambassador Malik’s proposal of the other day. He said that the French Government was extremely interested in the proposal and, although accepting the possibility that it might be merely a propaganda maneuver, did not wish to brush aside lightly any prospect of peace. Although Paris, of course, accepted the fact that it might be just another maneuver following the dissolution of the Deputies’ Conference, they had noted the fact that at the time the Chinese Communist offensive failed China had asked the Soviet Union what to do in the circumstances and that accordingly the Russians might at this time really be interested in some sort of peace settlement.
I replied that our attitude was substantially the same and that we certainly were seriously considering Malik’s proposal. While we shared the French Government’s view that this might be just another propaganda step we nevertheless were convinced that no effort toward peace must be overlooked. As Mr. Malik’s real intentions might be obscure we were accordingly seeking further information from our mission in Moscow. Our attitude might, therefore, be summed up in that we were extremely anxious to have a satisfactory settlement at this [Page 557] time of the Korean situation but at the same time we were aware of the pitfalls entering into any negotiations that were basically a propaganda effort.
Mr. Daridan thanked me for this information and said that our views seemed to coincide with those held in Paris.
- Samuel K. C. Kopper, Deputy Director of the Office of Near Eastern Affairs.↩