256. Telegram From Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Mau to Secretary-General Hammarskjöld1
With reference to the message addressed on 13 March 1957 to the President of the Security Council by Mr. Pham Van Dong, on [Page 499] behalf of the so-called Democratic Republic of Viet-Nam, protesting against the General Assembly resolution of 28 February 1957, recommending the admission of Viet-Nam to membership in the United Nations, a message which you transmitted to me, I should be grateful if you would forward to the President of the Security Council the following communication:
The Government of the Republic of Viet-Nam has the honour to draw the attention of the President and members of the Security Council to the fact that it legally represents the entire territory of Viet-Nam, including the area occupied by the de facto Viet-Minh authorities. The instrument known as the Geneva “Agreement on the Cessation of Hostilities in Viet-Nam” signed on 21 July 1954 by the French and Viet-Minh High Commands, cannot in international law affect the legal position of Viet-Nam, which remains the same single State that, through the referendum of 23 October 1956, became the Republic of Viet-Nam. That change in the constitutional status of the country is not a factor which can affect the principle of the continuity of the State.
Hence, having examined the application for admission submitted by Viet-Nam, the United Nations General Assembly, in its resolution of 28 February 1957, requested the Security Council to reconsider the application of Viet-Nam, and not of “South Viet-Nam”, as Mr. Pham Van Dong incorrectly expressed it. The Government of the Republic of Viet-Nam accordingly requests the Security Council to reject outright the protest made by the de facto Viet-Minh authorities and to give effect to the recommendation of the United Nations General Assembly.2
- Source: USUN Files, IO, Membership. A notation on the source text indicates that it is a copy of the translation of the original telegram, which was in French. Presumably translated by officers of the Mission at the United Nations. No copy of the original telegram has been found.↩
- On May 23, Nguyen Duy Lien, Counselor of the Vietnamese Embassy, called on Thomas J. Corcoran on instructions from Saigon “to say the Government of Viet-Nam had heard that the USSR intended to introduce a new proposal in the UN calling for the admission of two Germanies, two Koreas and two Viet-Nams to the UN. Mr. Lien had been instructed to say that the Government of Viet-Nam desired to maintain its previous position that it opposed any proposal that denied the unity of Viet-Nam. He remarked that he had just returned from a three-day stay in New York where he had attended, as an observer, a meeting of the Security Council and that he had heard no rumors of such a Russian proposal. He said that he was unaware of the source of his government’s information and requested our comment on the likelihood of such a Russian move.” (Department of State, Central Files, 310.2/5–2357)↩