TNAG-0556-FCO40-651-Resettlement-of-Vietnamese-refugees-from-Hong-Kong-into-othe-1975 — Page 38

CONFIDENTIAL

3

South Vietnamese Diplomatic Premises

10. France, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, UK and Italy had all received communications from the PRG asserting their control over South Vietnamese diplomatic premises and requesting Governments to keep them in safe custody pending transfer. These communications had

come either from the Permanent Mission of the PRG in Paris, or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of South Vietnam (or both). France had already handed over custody to the PRG Mission in Paris. The Germans and the Dutch were now in correspondence with the PRG on

the matter. The Italians and the Belgians intended to do so, as did the UK once recognition was settled. Those represented all considered that such correspondence constituted the establishment/maintenance of diplomatic relations with the PRG, though they would not necessarily be announcing it as such.

Establishment of Diplomatic Relations

11. Villemur (France) said that provided the State of South Vietnam subsisted, France considered that it had diplomatic relations with the successors of the old régime. Their Embassy was functioning in Saigon though it still had no contact with the central authorities. The local Military Committee of Administration, however, respected the Embassy's immunities. No central authority had yet been presented in public. The French believed the authorities were awaiting a suitable

opportunity. The PRG Mission in Paris had told the French the new Government would soon be presented and it would be the PRG. There was some speculation whether the word "Provisional" would disappear but in the French view it was likely to remain pending reunification. In the new circumstances following the fall of Saigon, the French now thought that reunification could come any time after a few months, and that the North Vietnamese were unlikely to wait for more than a year. A longer period risked creating a separate identity in the South which would impede ultimate reunification. Although they had no direct evidence, the French thought there was some indication that both North and South Vietnamese would each wish to enter UN organisations.

CONFIDENTIAL

/12.