Cablegram K284 BATAVIA, 10 March 1949, 5.50 p.m.
IMPORTANT CONFIDENTIAL
Following the presentation of its supplementary report 7th March (K.283 [1] paragraph [4]), the Commission received a letter [2] dated 8th March from the Netherlands regarding the Republican account of Koets’s clarifications (K.283 paragraph 5). This letter pointed out that it had been agreed at Bangka that no publicity be given to the discussions between Koets and the Republicans and that the Republican account being necessarily incomplete because of its conciseness ‘cannot be regarded as an official clarification of the Netherlands position’.
2. The Commission’s reply [3] of 9th March recalls that, during the discussions on 27th February with Beel, Koets and Schuurman regarding the proposed conference, the Commission had stressed the desirability of the Netherlands providing it with as much information as possible in writing. It accordingly asked for ‘any further details which the Netherlands delegation might care to provide so that an Official clarification of the Netherlands position can be forwarded for the information of the Security Council in time for today’s meeting’.
3. In a reply [4] dated 9th March, Schuurman informed the Commission that since the above-mentioned discussions on 27th February ‘no further information concerning the Netherlands position regarding round table conference has been made available to my delegation’ and that the Commission’s request for further information in writing had been referred to The Hague.
4. Schuurman handed his reply to me personally and stressed verbally that:
(a) The Netherlands objections to the Republican expose of Koets’s clarifications were based on its incompleteness and not on any inaccuracies;
(b) Van Royen would shortly be making an official statement of the Netherlands position in the Security Council.
5. The three letters mentioned above will be forwarded to the Security Council today as a second supplement.
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1 Document 284.
2 The full text of this letter is given in united nations, Security Council Official Records, Fourth Year, Supplement for March pp.32-3.
3 The full text of the Commission’s reply is given in ibid., p.33.
4 The text of the ‘Further Communication dated 9 March from the Netherlands Delegation Concerning Appendix II of the Commission’s Supplementary Report of 7 March (S/1270/Add.1)’ is given in ibid, pp.33-4.
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[AA : A1838, 854/10/4/3, iv]