Editorial Note
On May 29, 1954, the Government of Thailand submitted a letter to the Security Council drawing attention to the fighting in Indochina, which, it was contended, constituted a threat to the security of Thailand. The letter requested that the Council authorize the dispatch of observers to Thailand under the Peace Observation Commission. The letter was circulated as document S/3220.
The Council considered this question at its 672d, 673d, and 674th meetings, June 3, 16, and 18, respectively. On June 18, at the instance of the United States, the Security Council voted on a Thai draft resolution (document S/3229) under which the Council would ask the POC to dispatch observers to Thailand and to report as necessary. The resolution received nine votes in favor and one abstention (Lebanon), but [Page 1636] failed due to the negative vote of the Soviet Union, a permanent member of the Council. The Soviet Representative had contended during the debate that the Thai request was in fact an attempt by the United States to deepen the conflict in Indochina and to prepare the way for armed intervention by the United Nations. For the record of Security Council consideration of this subject, see United Nations, Official Records of the Security Council, Ninth Year, 672d, 673d, and 674th Meetings.
On July 7, the Foreign Minister of Thailand addressed a letter to the Secretary-General of the United Nations asking that the General Assembly consider the Thai requirement for POC observers (document A/2665). However, the Foreign Minister withdrew this request by letter of August 20, 1954 (document A/2708). The matter therefore did not come before the Assembly.
The question of the Thai appeal to the United Nations was the subject of detailed, protracted, and often high-level discussions at New York, Washington, and Geneva during the spring and summer of 1954, involving in particular the United States, Thailand, France, and the United Kingdom. For additional documentation on this matter, see volume XVI, pages 875 ff. Voluminous unpublished material exists in the following Department of State files: 320.2 AB; 330; 396.1 GE; 751G.00; and in the IO files—master files of the Reference and Documents Section of the Bureau of International Organization Affairs. See also United States–Vietnam Relations, 1945–1967, Book 9.