751H.00/4–3053: Telegram
The Ambassador in France (Dillon) to the Department of State
[Received 6:25 p.m.]
5756. Repeated information Saigon 240 pass Phnom Penh 2, Tokyo 47. Bidault also spoke to me this afternoon about Cambodia. He expressed real gratitude and several times asked me to thank Secretary for the message we sent to King in Tokyo. Bidault considers King to be a weakling driven by fear. King now fears the Communists because of their recent advance in Laos, and he also fears the rebel bands in his own country. It is impossible to give King anything in regard to military control, but subject of courts of justice and finances are in course of negotiation, and negotiations will be pushed. Bidault also said that King of Cambodia had raised question of his personal need for money. Bidault obviously has no respect for King or for Cambodian people. He says country would long since have been partitioned by Siam and Vietnam if France had not intervened, and only the presence of France will keep country independent. Negotiations are proceeding, but I do not feel we can expect any very prompt result in view of strong feeling here that King is trying to blackmail France in view their present difficulties with Viet Minh.