Memorandum of Conversation with Secretary of State Dean Acheson and Ambassador of France Henri Bonnet

398 DEPARTMENT OF STATE 24 Memorandum of Conversation conf SEGRIT DATE: January 16, 1951 SUBJECT: Korea, Indochina, CFM PARTICIPANTS: The Secretary Ambassador Bonnet COPIES TO: DECLASSIFIED EUR E. o. 11632. Sec. 3(E) and S(D) de FE UNA Dept. as State letter. 11-14-27 ROJCCT NITT1-47 EUR - Ward Allen NC NARS 01/12-20.77 u. s. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 16-61120-1 Ambassador Bonnet, who is leaving tomorrow for ten days in Paris, during which time he will confer with Ambassadors Massigli Chauvel and High Commissioner Francois Poncet, called at noon today at his request. The Ambassador opened the conversation by referring to the firth point of the set of principles for the Korean settlement which was transmitted to the Peiping Government last Saturday by the political committee of the General Assembly. He said that Foreign Minister Schuman had asked him to express to me the French Government's concern over being omitted from the countries named as possible members of the "appropriate body". Mr. Schuman also instructed the Ambassador to express the hope that the US Government would support France's inclusion on any such body. In reply to the Ambassador I pointed out that we had not been consulted in the drafting of the principles and that they stipulated that the body "shall include representatives" of the states named. Thile I expressed doubts as to Chinese acceptence of any such proposal I said that if such a body were to be created the US would be glad to insist that France be represented therein. The Ambassador referred briefly to the information he had received from the Department yesterday on the military situation in Korea and then mentioned the threat of Chinese aggression in Indochina. He inquired whether I had any information regarding the high level staff talks to which I replied that this matter was being studied in the Department of Defense. The Ambassador then inquired whether there were any developments on the problem of branding the Chinese as aggressors to which I replied in the E ARCHIVES "INATIONAL SERVIGE BLCORDS AND negative. I pointed out that we had dispatched another telegram last evening GOVERN on this subject to our posts in Western Europe and that we were going ahead with