FAR EAST

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP78-01617A006100050010-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 12, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 24, 2002
• Sequence Number: 10
• Publication Date: June 20, 1950
• Content Type: SUMMARY

JOIN 1q5
1321
25X1
FAR EAST
Approved For Release 2002/ 6 : c 44RDP78-01617A006100050010-5
7E C R E T
1. INDOCHINA, Bao Dai reportedly discouraged and depressed--
US Consul General Gullion in Saigon, in summarizing his im-
pression of Bao Dai's present attitude toward the future of
Vietnam, reports that Bao Dai appeared to be profoundly de-
pressed and discouraged during a recent; prolonged inter-
view. Bao Dai (who has now firmly decided to go to France)
remarked that he would "wait and see" before deciding upon
the date of his return from France, and Gullion comments
that Bao obviously conceives of his coming visit as a means
of wringing further concessions from the French as the price
for his return, Bao believes that the French military effort
in Indochina is going badly and feels that the French "are
welching" on their political promises for granting greater
autonomy to the new State of Vietnam. In estimating how
Bao Dai's state of mind may affect the course of events in
Indochina, Gullion. comments that although Bao's present
attitude may be transitory, the fact remains that Bao is
seriously considering a "stay away" strike against the French
and that Bao's present disconsolate attitude is far from that
of a single-minded leader of an anti-Communist crusade.
(CIA Comment, Bao Dai.'s imminent departure from
Indochina, on the eve of the technical conference scheduled
for 20-25 June between France and the three new Indochinese
states and just prior to initial delivery of US aid, is primarily
a bargaining move aimed at extracting a French commitment
to expand the "limited independence" recently granted Viet-
nam within the French Union.. A prolonged stay in. France by
Bao Dai would seriously hamper French attempts to create a
non-Communist nationalist movement in Indochina, and Bao's
flat refusal to return -to Vietnam could lead to a collapse of
the current French political effort in Indochina.)
Document No. W
NO CHANGE in Class. U i
CJ EC. ASSIFIED
Class. ED TO: TS S &X1
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~01T617A006100050010-5
State Dept. review completed
Approved For Release 2002/06/26: C