Cablegram 60 CANBERRA, 7 April 1949, 5.45 [p.m.]
RESTRICTED
Your H. 174. [1]
Our representatives at Batavia have no confidence that preliminary discussions which should commence next week at Batavia will lead to any agreement regarding the re-establishment of the Republican Government or the other conditions which were regarded as being essential by the Security Council.
We are not inclined to pin our hopes on these preliminary discussions and allow the fact that they are being held to be used as an argument against full discussion of the problem in the Assembly.
If the Dutch authorities can be persuaded immediately to arrive at a definite conclusion with regard to the re-establishment of the Government and the relaxation of the blockade so that the Government may function and make provision for an early calling of a conference so much the better. We consider that from a realistic point of view we must approach the Assembly on the assumption that this will not be the case and therefore will seek to discuss the whole problem arising out of the failure of the Dutch authorities to implement the Security Council’s resolution [2] of the 28th January.
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1 Document 339.
2 Document 168.
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[AA : A1838, 403/3/1/1, xxii]