Chronology of Cambodian History

136. Information Memorandum From the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs (Sisco) to Secretary of State Rusk

Washington, June 4, 1964.

SUBJECT: Cambodian Complaint in the Security Council

The Security Council this afternoon approved unanimously a draft resolution concerning Cambodia which was co-sponsored by the Ivory Coast and Morocco. However, the Soviet Union had stated it could not support operative paragraph five regarding the establishment of a three-man commission of the Security Council to visit the two countries, and asked that this paragraph be put to a separate vote. (During the day the Soviets had sought unsuccessfully to get a sentence added to paragraph five reading "no additional expenses to the UN will be involved.") Paragraph five was approved by nine votes to two abstentions (USSR and Czechoslovakia).

The Moroccan representative thought that the expenses of the commission could be met from the Secretary-General's contingency fund. This was later confirmed by U Thant who added that he would nevertheless request a supplemental appropriation from the next General Assembly to help cover the costs which he estimated at $39,000.

The Soviet representative repeated his charges of aggression by the United States and its "puppet" Saigon regime against the territorial integrity of Cambodia. However, he said he wished to talk today of the positive aspects of the draft resolution, and alleged that even the "moderate" wording of the resolution showed U.S. responsibility for the act of aggression. Ambassador Stevenson vigorously refuted the Soviet charges.

I believe we came out very well with the adoption of this resolution and achieved some of the constructive results which you suggested we seek. This resolution is a far cry from the type which the Cambodians sought, since it neither endorses a Geneva Conference nor accepts the Cambodian-Soviet thesis that the ICC should handle the border situation. On the contrary, for the first time, the UN has been given a role in trying to ameliorate the border problem between Cambodia and South Viet-Nam.

While I doubt that the Commission will recommend a major and continuing UN involvement, the Security Council has now at least put its foot inside the Southeast Asian door.

A more thorough analysis of the Soviet motivation will be required. However, it is significant that despite the Communist bombast and railing against UN involvement, the USSR wound up by voting affirmatively for the resolution.

Source: US Department of State

FOREIGN RELATIONS OF THE UNITED STATES
1964-1968, Volume XXVII
Mainland Southeast Asia; Regional Affairs