396.1–GE/3–2954: Telegram
The Ambassador in the Soviet Union (Bohlen) to the Department of State
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1161. Repeated information niact London 173, Paris 232, Geneva and Seoul unnumbered. I handed Kuznetsov text aide-mémoire given Deptel 597 5 pm (Embtel 1156).1 Kuznetsov who reads and speaks English quite fluently read aide-mémoire and after saying he would communicate it to Molotov said he would like to make a preliminary comment on sentence which refers to status and responsibility of other powers (third sentence first paragraph dealing with Soviet consultation with other powers). He said that according to communiqué published in Berlin, Geneva Conference was a conference at which two subjects would be dealt with and at which five powers would attend with other interested countries depending on the subject. He felt therefore that sentence in question was at least debatable and not fully justified by Berlin communiqué.
I told Kuznetsov that I had nothing to add to the sentence but having been at Berlin it was perfectly clear that the four powers had assumed responsibility for calling and organizing the conference as evidenced by the fact that all other powers including Communist China had been invited and had in fact been invited by US and Soviet Governments as agreed at Berlin. I said it was difficult to see how there could be any misunderstanding on this point since Soviet Government had taken action to invite Communist China and North Korea in conformity with Berlin agreement.
Kuznetsov did not contest the point in regard to responsibility of the four powers for the invitations and organization of the conference and his subsequent remark to effect that once at Geneva China would be on an equal footing with every other participant seemed to me to indicate that he had somewhat misunderstood the sentence in question. I did not argue this point with him and he showed no further disposition to pursue the subject.
I had rather expected that he would contest inclusion of Korean as an official language but he did not and he merely asked question for clarification in order to assure himself that Chinese would be an official language under our proposal. I explained to him that for the Korean political conference the proposal was to add as official languages both Korean and Chinese, making five in all. He seemed satisfied [Page 68] with this point but inquired what would be done about languages in regard to Indochinese discussions. He said he assumed that organization of Indochinese phase would be discussed at Geneva. I told him I had no instructions on this point and at present aide-mémoire dealt only with preparations for Korean conference.
Comment: I am inclined to believe, as indicated above, that Kuznetsov misread sentence re consultation with other powers and was interpreting it as meaning that once conference began China and other countries would be on different status than four inviting powers. Without going into that aspect of the matter I believe I convinced him that sentence in question referred to the responsibility of the four powers for calling and organizing Korean political conference.
From Kuznetsov observation I believe that in its reply Soviet Government will stress point that once conference convenes China and all other participating countries will be on equal footing insofar as substantive work of conference is concerned. For Indochinese phase they may interpret Berlin agreement to mean that invitations for other participants to Indochinese discussions will be extended by five powers rather than four. We should therefore be prepared to deal with this point which is not definite in wording of agreement and as I recall was left somewhat unclear at Berlin.
- Telegram 1156, Mar. 29, informed the Department of State that Bohlen had an appointment to see Kuznetsov and would hand him the aide-mémoire contained in telegram 597, Mar. 25, as instructed (396.1–GE/3–2954).↩