Office of the Historian

207. Telegram From the Embassy in Cambodia to the Department of State1

Phnom Penh, June 23, 1955—4 p.m.

1269. It seems to us that Menon’s intemperate statements about Cambodian MDA agreement (Deptel 701 repeated New Delhi 2061, Ottawa 360, San Francisco 92) could be usefully exploited in diplomatic dealings with GOI on this question; for it is becoming clearer and clearer, from informal statements made by Indians themselves, that they oppose MDA agreement because they do not want us to give military aid to Cambodia and not because of any conflict with Geneva agreement.

. . . . . . .

I have already (Embtel 12593) discussed with Indian chairman discrepancy between the US views and India’s strict duty to interpret Geneva according to the text. However, it might be helpful if in any communication to GOI on this subject attention could be called to informal statements made by Menon which indicate that India is opposed to American military assistance to Cambodia, per se; and if it could be pointed out that such an attitude, if it really exists on the [Page 460] part of GOI, would be in serious contradiction to Geneva agreement, for that agreement clearly contemplated that Cambodia could receive foreign military assistance for effective defense of its territory.

McClintock
  1. Source: Department of State, Central Files, 751G.00/6–2355. Secret. Repeated to New Delhi, Ottawa, and the delegation at San Francisco.↩
  2. Document 205.↩
  3. Dated June 22, not printed. (Department of State, Central Files, 751G.00/6–2255)↩