REACTION TO COUP IN SOUTH VIETNAM

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP79T00429A001200050013-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 19, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 12, 2005
• Sequence Number: 13
• Publication Date: November 8, 1963
• Content Type: IM

Approved For Relea*W 2005/06/OSRCARt'T9T00429A00 0050013-8
OC I . No . 3210/63
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
Office of Current Intelligence
6 November 1963
CURRENT INTELLIGENCE MEMORANDUM
SUBJECT: Reaction to the Coup in South Vietnam
1. Recent Embassy reports and monitored press
and radio broadcasts give some indication as to which
countries are preparing to recognize the provisional
government in South Vietnam.
2. In the Far East, Japan, Thailand, National-
ist China, the Philippines, Australia, Malaysia,.
Laos, and South Korea have either recognized the. new
government or have indicated that they are preparing
to extend recognition. These countries have expressed
the hope that the coup will benefit South Vietnam's
prospects for stability and peace.
3. Cambodia is also ready to extend recogni-
tion, but at a price. Prince Sihanouk has attached
several conditions to Cambodian recognition. These
include, among other things, South Vietnam's cessa-
tion of border violations:;.dkopping Diem's claim
to disputed coastal islands, termination of support
for anti-Sihanouk Cambodian exiles, and payment of
a nine-year.-old debt claim.
4. In West Europe, our ambassadors indicate
that London, Bonn, and Rome will follow the US lead
in recognizing the Vietnamese government.
a. The Embassy in London has been told
that Britain wants to announce recognition simul-
taneously with the US and has instructed the British
Embassy in Washington to coordinate timing with the
State Department.
State Department review completed
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b. Ambassador McGhee reports from Bonn
that West Germany favors recognition in principle
and agrees that early recognition by the major
powers would bolster the. new Vietnamese regime. The
ambassador believes, however, that the German Gov-
ernment will probably not extend recognition until
after the US makes its move.
c. Ambassador Reinhardt says the Italians
have taken the stand that Italy must follow the lead
of other nations in extending recognition in order
to avoid political discussions which could worsen
the uneasy political situation there. An Italian
spokesman told the ambassador that if the US, Ger-
many, the UK, and France recognize South Vietnam,
Italy will follow suit.
5. The picture in Paris is not so clearly
drawn. A French Foreign Office spokesman told
Ambassador Bohlen that the French Government is
not likely to be in a hurry to recognize South Viet-
nam's new government. He told Ambassador Bohlen
that the Quai is preparing a dossier on developments
in Vietnam for a Council of Ministers meeting which
presumably will be held today.
6. Canada also will not be hasty in recognizing
the new government in South Vietnam. Foreign Minis-
ter Martin has told the House of Commons that the
Canadian Government will give the matter of Vietnamese
recognition its fullest consideration when the new
regime is firmly established. He said Canada's
decision will not be made lightly or quickly. (Can-
ada's role on the International Control Commission
is the inhibiting factor.)
7. Moscow and Peiping propaganda is in unusual
accord concerning developments in South Vietnam.
Both continue to agree that the coup has insured only
a change of US puppets and that Diem was ousted at
US behest--not because he was a dictator, but because
he was an inefficient dictator. There is no doubt in
the bloc concerning the political line of the South
Vietnamese generals and their new government. There
is unanimity of opinion that Diem's policies will be
continued. According to bloc media, these policies
are to subordinate Vietnam to US imperialism and to
suppress the national liberation struggle of the Viet-
namese people. There is also general agreement that
the new government will be as militantly anti-Communist
and as reactionary as its predecessor.
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