Cablegram K206 BATAVIA, 12 December 1948
IMMEDIATE SECRET
The Republican report on the breakdown of the direct talks [1] makes the following points:-
(a) the Republican Government has shown its goodwill and gone to the limit in its concessions towards the Netherlands viewpoints;
(b) the direct talks were not a serious attempt on the part of the Netherlands Government to negotiate an agreement with the Republic but the instructions to the Netherlands Ministers apparently restricted them to an investigation of whether the Netherlands terms would be accepted in principle;
(c) the Netherlands Government, ignoring the Renville Agreement, the Committee of Good Offices and the statements it has made before the Security Council, intends to form an Interim Federal Government, irrespective of participation by the Republic, before the end of the year without further formal negotiations under the auspices of the Committee of Good Offices.
2. The report states that the direct talks have failed and calls upon the Committee of Good Offices to prevail on the Netherlands Government to come to a peaceful settlement. The Republic reiterates its willingness to consider reasonable terms of settlement.
3. Another letter from the Republican delegation gives an account of truce discussions between the representatives of the two Governments which were held concurrently with the informal political talks.
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1 i.e. the report dated 7 December. See note 5 to Document 361.
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[AA:A4968/2, 25/9/5]