751H.11/4–2253
Memorandum by the Director of the Office of Philippine and Southeast Asian Affairs (Bonsal) to the Assistant Secretary of State for Far Eastern Affairs (Robertson)
Subject:
- Interview with King of Cambodia Printed in the New York Times April 19.
The purpose of this memorandum is to supplement for the record Ambassador Heath’s memorandum of April 20 regarding the above subject.
On Sunday afternoon, April 19, Ambassador Heath, Mr. Hoey and I agreed that it would be desirable, if the King of Cambodia were to make further statements to the press, that he stress some factors in the situation which might have a more constructive effect on American public opinion than those which had been raised by His Majesty in the New York Times interview. Accordingly, that evening I telephoned Mr. Getz1 in San Francisco and suggested to him that if His Majesty was going to speak further to the press he might include: (a) the fact that the questions affecting Cambodian independence to which he had referred in the New York Times interview had been submitted to President Auriol and that consequently they might be considered as under negotiation between France and Cambodia; (b) some reference to the progress which Cambodia has made toward independence in recent years and to the positive attributes of sovereignty which the Cambodian Government enjoys; and (c) a reiteration of the importance of Franco-Cambodian cooperation and of the important role played by French manpower and resources in the defense of Cambodia against Communism.
Later that evening Ambassador Nong Kimny telephoned me and I told him what I had already said to Mr. Getz, stressing that, of course, we were not trying in any way to influence His Majesty or to comment adversely on what His Majesty had already said.
The next morning Nong Kimny telephoned me to say that His Majesty had been very much bothered by newspapermen in San Francisco and had consequently reached the decision to remain in his room to avoid them until his departure for Honolulu. I expressed the hope that some way might be found for His Majesty to get some enjoyment out of his stay in San Francisco. Nong Kimny said that some thought had been given to the possibility of having the police protect His Majesty from the newspapermen but that idea had been rejected as being bad public relations. Nong Kimny also told me that the San [Page 489] Francisco press had reported that His Majesty was met at the airport by the French Consul General who “whisked him away” before the newspapermen had a chance to ask him anything. (I gather from my own Sunday conversation with the French Ambassador that the French are indignant about His Majesty’s statement and have probably let him know it in a straightforward manner; I took occasion to tell the French Ambassador that from our point of view, what was needed was emphasis of the realities of Cambodian independence which the French and ourselves have affirmed in public from time to time as well as emphasis upon the fact that the differences between His Majesty and the French Government are under negotiation.)
With regard to the specific suggestions which I had made to him the previous night Nong Kimny replied as follows:
- (a)
- It is difficult to say that negotiations are in progress between France and Cambodia because His Majesty’s letters of March 5 and March 182 have been unanswered as yet by President Auriol and there was no official conversation on the subject during His Majesty’s stay in Paris. His Majesty has left his Prime Minister in Paris but has received no report of any progress.
- (b)
- From the point of view of the Cambodian Government, there has been no progress toward independence since the 1949 Accords;3 on the contrary the agreements which were supposed to clarify those accords have been of a restrictive nature and have diminished the rather flexible framework which was reached by the basic accords. The Cambodian people therefore fail to have any sensation of progress in this direction; on the contrary
- (c)
- The fact is that the majority of the Cambodian people currently wish to leave the French Union although His Majesty desires and is seeking ways and means of remaining in the French Union.
Later the same day, Monday, April 21, Mr. Millet, of the French Embassy, called on Ambassador Heath and myself to discuss the situation. He recognized that the French handling of His Majesty in Paris had been something less than deft. He suggested that perhaps the bad effect of the New York Times interview could be diminished if His Majesty could issue some sort of statement on departing from the United States. This statement could touch upon the points of a constructive nature in Franco-Cambodian relations and on the need for Franco-Cambodian cooperation to which reference has been made above.
Ambassador Heath telephoned the Cambodian Ambassador regarding this subject. He particularly emphasized the importance of American [Page 490] public opinion in relation to American aid for the struggle against Communism in Indochina and stated that it was important that American public opinion have a broad understanding of Franco-Cambodian relations and of the present state of Cambodian independence rather than having its attention focused exclusively on particular points of difference.
That night Nong Kimny dictated to me over the telephone the text of a statement which His Majesty might make the following day on his departure from San Francisco. A rough translation of that text is attached.4 Obviously it would be unsatisfactory for the purposes which Ambassador Heath and Mr. Millet had in mind.
On Tuesday morning Ambassador Heath had a further conversation with Ambassador Nong Kimny in the course of which the Ambassador suggested that rather than bring up the matters already dealt with in the New York Times interview the statement might confine itself to an expression of appreciation for the courtesies extended His Majesty in the United States and an expression of determination to continue the struggle in Cambodia with the help of French and American aid. The conversation ended indecisively. Apparently His Majesty made no statement on his departure from San Francisco.
- King Norodom Sihanouk returned to Cambodia via San Francisco and Japan. John I. Getz of the Office of Philippine and Southeast Asian Affairs escorted him to San Francisco.↩
- For texts, see Cambodia, Livre Jaune, I, pp. 3–18 and 28–30.↩
- For text of the French–Cambodian Treaty of Nov. 8, 1949, see Bulletin Officiel de Haut-Commissariat de France en Indochine (Saigon), Mar. 26, 1953, pp. 262–267.↩
- Not printed.↩