033.4111/6–2154: Telegram
No. 459
The Ambassador in the United
Kingdom (Aldrich) to the Department
of State
5883. I had half hour talk with Eden at House of Commons before signing of notes covering US cemetery at Cambridge. I told him US Government had not given up hope of ratification of EDC and that we were very anxious that nothing should be said by anyone to indicate abandonment of treaty. He said he understood this and believed strongly that EDC was best possible solution of German rearmament question but that he could not say that he felt very optimistic. He had seen Mendes-France in Paris and said that Mendes-France had stated he would bring matter up for decision before adjournment of French Parliament, but Eden said that General Koenig, new French Minister of Defense, was bitter opponent of EDC and he, Eden, did not think treaty would be ratified without reservations which would be unacceptable to Adenauer.
We then ran through informally various questions which might come up in Washington and he made following comments:
[Page 1068]Egypt—A plan had been developed by British Chiefs of Staff and Foreign Office in his absence which, he believes, will be satisfactory to Egyptians and which involves maintainance of canal base by private British contractor, but does not necessarily require American participation. British may advise Egyptians that they wish to reopen base negotiations before Washington conference takes place so as to avoid implication that reopening of negotiations result US pressure in Washington.
Iran—Eden expressed himself as optimistic of favorable result on basis of the arrangements recently concluded in London.1
Saudi Arabia—Eden referred to the recent British proposal for arbitration2 and in the course of our talk assured me categorically the British would not let us down by making a deal with the Saudi Arabians to the detriment of Aramco.
Southeast Asia—On Southeast Asia, Eden stated that he did not believe that there had been any real disagreement between the US and UK except on question of timing of negotiations to create a defense arrangement in Southeast Asia and that he felt sure that talks which are about to begin in Washington would result in a removal of any past misunderstanding. He believed that Burma and India had recently moved much closer to participation. He said that he found manner of dealing with Pakistan rather delicate because of necessity of bringing them in in such a way as not to disturb attitude of India. He seemed to feel that Indonesia was most unlikely of all concerned states to be willing to cooperate.
He expressed great appreciation of the close and happy relations which had existed between Under Secretary Smith and himself during Geneva Conference.3
It may be of interest to note that Eden said he had been more impressed by Chou En-lai than by Molotov at Geneva. Former was a Manchu and a well-educated man whose house was filled with beautiful Chinese porcelains and who gave impression of culture and refinement as well as intelligence. At his first two interviews, Chou had been very stiff and uncompromising but as conference went on he became more easy to talk with and more apparently desirous of reaching solution of such questions as method of dealing with Cambodia and Laos.
Trieste—He expressed great hope with regard to result of present negotiations and satisfaction of manner in which they had been handled.
[Page 1069]Eden left me with general impression of being in very good health and looking forward greatly to Washington conference with hope and expectation that it will greatly strengthen relations between US and UK.
- Documentation on the negotiations in London leading to the settlement of the Anglo-Iranian oil controversy is scheduled for publication in volume x.↩
- For documentation on the British proposal to arbitrate the Buraimi boundary dispute, see vol. ix, Part 2, pp. 2458 ff.↩
- For Smith’s version of his relations with Eden at Geneva, see Document 441.↩