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Title:
Hanoi's 23 September Memorandum on negotiating the Vietnam War
Date of Creation:
September 24, 1965
Date of Declassification:
April 30, 1986
Type of Document:
Intelligence memorandum
Level of Classification:
NOT GIVEN
Status of Copy:
ORIGINAL
Pagination, Illustration:
8 p.
Abstract:
The North Vietnamese have now responded to continuing US policy statements on settling the war in Vietnam with an official government memorandum detailing their own current "views". This statement, in the form of a foreign ministry paper, is the most extensive pronouncement on Hanoi policy since Premier Pham Van Dong's four point proposal of 8 April. Hanoi probably regards the document as its side of a dialogue with Washington on terms for ending the conflict. The memorandum also serves as a response to the many recent proposals by free world leaders on ending the war. Its timing may have been set by a Hanoi desire once more to go on record prior to the opening of the UN General Assembly session, where the Vietnam situation is likely to be a prime issue. The memorandum offers no new proposals for settling the conflict, and no explicit concessions in DRV terms. It does, however, by dint of its phraseology on several points and by its omission of several hard-line concepts contained in a number of prior DRV statements, convey an impression of greater flexibility than has been present overall in any past DRV policy pronouncements. It is apparently not a signal that Hanoi is now ready to step to the negotiating table, but rather that the North Vietnamese have reviewed their bidding, made some adjustments, and are waiting to hear the response of the other principals, most notably the United States. The statement follows other indications, both public and private, that Hanoi is now more interested in hearing what US officials and fiends of the US have to say about negotiations, and that the DRV is also trying to be more explicit in outlining its own position.
Indexing Terms:
Declassified Documents Reference System Location:
1986-002536
Link to Full Text: