BOUNDARY BETWEEN LAOS AND NORTH VIETNAM NEAR THE DMZ

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP08C01297R000300070004-0
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 6
• Document Creation Date: December 27, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 13, 2012
• Sequence Number: 4
• Publication Date: February 10, 1967
• Content Type: MEMO

Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/11/19: CIA-RDP08001297R000300070004-0
INVRFE - Fred Greene ? February 10, 1967
RSF/G2 - Robert D. Hodgson
Boundary Between Laos and North Vietnam near the
As requested, we have prepared a study on the boundary alignJent near
the DLZ and the basis for North Vietnamese claims. In view of the
available data, we conclude that there is no basis for these clair:s. The
boundary align-,ent shown on the attached 150,000 raps is substantiated
by a) official Indochinese decrees, b) official French naps of the
pre-Geneva period, c) rap annees to the Geneva agreeront and d) state7ents
of the Lao and South Vietnamese authorities.
These data were furnished independently to 'ACV through DIA: C (-apping
and Chartinz)on January 4, 1967.
- Attachments: -
1. Copy of Paper.
2.k. 3. 'aps.
CONFIDENTIAL
-CROUP 4
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CCNITTDENTTAL
,:?.??ow 'nVA111 11;71:
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The question of disputed territories along the Laos North Viet
boundary can not be discussed with absolute certainty. ?As is obvious- fro:-JT
the International: Boundary :Audi (185) No. 35 (Revised), only about
one-third Of the boundary Can be traced to official decrees Or treaties
of the French period. Pre-French data fvrtherrore, are so ve.zuo as to
be of no v,lne. The French Cl.vorarzent has stated that the 1100,000
Ca-i-te do ltInloc-hine, vas an accurate depiction of their interpretation of
the boundary. This nap series ahd the decree cited in 133-35 have fomed
the bacs for the Depertrent of SLate-Ary ?lap Service iiiterprotatioa as
printed on the Laos and Vietnam 1:50,000 lap series.
The decree of the Ceveranr-acnerel lelir_ittlg the current Lab-
VietnaLcse boundary in the vicinity of the Doxilitari:ted one states:
frer, the top of the Keo-1w a Pass ... the boundary runs
Sf.-rE along the watershed line, across the Traz,--ua peak
and the peas to r?,,,nntain top 1221 ... at 18%0
latitude and 115G7$E. longitude.
"The border ... from elevation 1221 ... runs N-S
along the 115.78 roridian to it -zeating with beach
nark 1020m82 at 1)T?:1o. From this peak it runs
straight to the Lao-Bao Post, in Annan, leaving to Labs
North LarrlY Platlet and to Anima ';?tputh Lang_PsPtIat: from
1.1.122=o the border cuts across the bond in the ,So-Tch,,mone.:
' leaving in Laos the Village of Bar.-l'huou and the land
?around it.
No large-scale Lflo raps exist which are not based upon the 1:100,000
series cited above or on the A: s 1:50,000 series. Cenversaties with
Y. Voravang of the Lao napping agency have revealed that Laos accepts the
1;100,000 series since there is no other evidence available.
C:NPIOLNII!L ?? P
1, I
a:f,ev 12
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No nedikm- or larga-scalo, North Victnnm?'ast-) ORA waP0 have been seen
in the 'Department of 8-tate to serve as a basis for dotemininz DRY
territorial a1ai:21s.
1/ n
ve,JT, ,:;,,T.T.L.-Lx t.n4J_Lae,4 DO VietN.P.,'.1 has
bocn. obtained. In additio?.11, certaiii diplaratio corruspondoace on th
fr::,ntior has bcen exchanjed by Laos snd tbe DaV. Th e latterls note
(Jaeuary 1959) stated:
?Alcng? the Vietna-tesc-Lnotian border,. Reval Laotian forces
have intensified their -Intrusions ... inside Viotna-seso territory's,
especially in the ,-I'oeng Lan area. In particular in the courss of
Occer,ber 1953, a re4nfcreent of effoctives arid troop L'evctents
woro notcd on the az-yal Laotian side, nf,?w. f:sosts wrs set up in
the 'vicinity cf our --?con7., Lap villez:c, and Lacti&n reeocniszAnce
patrols crosLed the border into Vietnnnese territory.
?
?':Zoncern1r.3 the Village or Kuoag lo.p, I should yeu
that it actually belongs to tho territory of DV. The DRV is now
in possession of n-,.;-cossary l'i,ateriels and ovidenoe to grove this
riuon7 Lap-'vill-e, which conprinee 27 ha'fAets such as
Co IF?ny, Ta and Trevit bsloos to Huong Eoa district, in
Quang Tri Province.
"Its ad:lnistrtive history, ceveritv varicxe dy;lasties
fro m to La dYnaetY l42-10) to the N.Luyon dynasty, too pericl
of. French occunatiu? finally the present period under the
reime or tie L,a7, testifies that :11.1c,112 Lap has uninterruptedly
been part of 1,7ieteate territory. anrore 1945, this villace
designate3 as Co 3ay canta and hclonzed to Euen:: Eca district
of ':Zuana- Tri Previnn. After the ponlele da:.caratio per vas
at up, the AlTinistrative co-_-.Tittee or Quang Tri Provinte ohan6oi
its narre Lar) village, and rade it an a.h2inistrative
division of :iacnj l'!oa district.
tilumercus tra,:fs in our loossesion e.2.ch. as ,andarinsl titles,
seals, rceeints of head taxes, tax and fr-road labor parent cards,
ani other a'l-inistrPttive zateriela of ,ezan.; Tri 'Province and
Lica zlistriot fully de:ronstrato t!ant this re?tion has at n11
tiTes beloned to Vietna-Os territorial patrirny...4
An or the identified v lgis citod 131 this mote (and others of a
,
si-ilar vein) bey? an underlined in md oa the attached bleek of 150,000
CONFIDENTIAL
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sheets.- Verification of:Tiaesic based on tho older 111000000 ahnats and
other meauw-scale French 1r.aps.it thould bs to4' d0 however, that not
all villavs could I:* 1ocat4d.
The Lae Gevernent refute d the North Vistnao, clain with citations
to old tretios and to thoIndochinese decree of Yarch 21/ 1914 which
d lizits dof1itoly the boundary* in this razion (Sec the text ate
In discussiag thia deliT:itsd ttoundary0 Laos 0,ated!
'0) Th-3 most recent proof that this line has an undeniable value
ia furnici by a rofsrnoe to the Lus-Viatasn, border that was P&111.
in the Inte,Y2st1enal k'ree7ent sizucl at Con.-fva in 1954. Th,"
Appesix to thc: Arnoteat on the 1. 3t11 of Hontilitios in Vio t--
(
(secr0t docu7ent IC/42 Aonen&i::, July 20, 1954) sets forth a
ditarjzod zone and
41. Establish:root of the provinal 14no of rilitsry
du,roation aud or 17c- doLilitari7iei zone (subject or
Article 1 or the Agroent referooce ';',.ZD of Inciechina
1;1000000) - (a) - the p:,..uvisicral lino of military
d,...,arastion of ths cen-3 iu divi4o1 ric
fo1lo-4a fxol. osat to wet l the mouth of tha Cs.r-z Loa
Hat (alvel- of Cua Tug) and the course of that ..rivoz
(which in the ri.,urltains assunes the nt.c.:o of ilac
up to tho villse or Then the perall,A of
up to the Lo-Vietnam bord.:x.4
'Thus
there is no dotlht-1 for all participants at the Geneva
Confereac..) the rofot-me r_ads was that of 1:100000 for Tchopone
East establialed by the Gco6raphic InatiUte and In the lattor the
Lo-71t is sho-,:n to 1.ha north aad to the east of the
villages which are to:lay occupied. This is a fact. EI.E. Ph= Van
Don, siznatcry for the aW Ge7ornront to the Gonvva Agracmoats
thus admitted in 1954, th:-ouh the first official intersatiaza act
in vhich the DON psrticiated, the border ae shnwn on that 7:ap
ad J. E0 -zIthouldzy re,-eruliora."
The basis for the DAV claim appears to ten fro z a vague
taken 107 the French is the 19204c. After the 1914 decree wao
Franch to grshio survi5yers f' A that Vietnat:-..ese (Anoasese)
had passel west of the delimited boundary and were setting in
T21.
action
promulgated,
farrars
the lowland
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? area of Laos. The French decreed that these settlers could take up land
and remain in a triangular area with an apex situated 25 kilometers west
of the midpoint of =.1 line 115E78.5. There seems to be no question
of a territorial transfer from Laos to Viet-Nam (Annam.) Rather the edict
granted permission for Annamese settlers to remain in Laos. This triangle
has been constructed on the annexed 1:500000s. All but one of the DRV
cited villages fall within the triangular area. The exception
(Trevigne-Ban Raving, grid block XD 4878) cam not be explained unless
the DRV has attempted to increase the areal extent adjacent to its
territory.
The Lao Government rejects this claim and the South Vietna7ese
Government has not supported the DRV position. As a result) the United
States has agreed that the Laos - Viet-Nam boundary in this region has-been
determined by the French decree of 1914 and substantiated, in part, by
the 1:100,000 rap annexes of the 1954 Geneva agreements. Consequently,
no official recognition has been taken on official American raps of the DAV.
Elsewhere along the boundary with Laos, the DRV has mado no official
? claim for territory to our knowledge. The cited nap, Ban o Vlet-Nar,,
shows certain differences in alignment (ese attached Lao map reproduction).
Most of these are considered to derive from the generalizing of the old
and very inaccurate French 1:400,000 and smaller-scale raps. The tripoint
among Laos, Viet-Nam and Cambodia ..is an excellent example. The repre-
sentation on the DRV nap was standard on all French pre-war, small-scale
raps. The location of the water divide, however, was shown to be markedly
different when air photography was utilized in the 1:100 000 revision
nnupTnroJTTAT.
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? OWIMITIAL
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proztram..Since that tie, C,:t..beJia,. Laos ani Viet-Nam have all accepted
the revised kap rrraentaLion or the water divide- line. No one han
clained a lens -or train of torrltery;. rather they. see It as a rore adeuatc
depietion ? f the utiderlyi,
,
boundary poation.
=7eographic features which dctemine the
In view of the lack of official ims and of large or medium scale
naps to the contrary, we have concluded that probably to boundary disputes
currently exist north of the D'Z. The chance always is present that
-ay be Rade in the futnr either for political convenience or for
Valid reasons. At the ont the Lce.5,-DR7 boundary should be considered
?
to ba
A.;-4
of the TX-2 need not b cons4derd
The boals for much of the
The onek WiV claim west
lary, however, is vague and Is 5uj cot
to review in the future. The United atatos Clevorm-=.ent should not coit
itself to reco5aizing the pcific location of the border in the
Undelimited area, i.e. north or the Kee-Nua pass although intent of the
11.00,000 series shou1.1 be followed on U.U. official mps until such
t,raGS es they zey be proven inec,rrect.
CUNF1MNT
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