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369 Department of External Affairs to Australian Delegation, United Nations

Cablegram 606 CANBERRA, 9 October 1947, 12 noon

IMMEDIATE SECRET

Your UN.952. [1]

Eaton, and also military observers, one of whom has returned [2],
is emphatic that there can be no satisfactory outcome unless there
is a demarcation line set or troop withdrawals to some given
points. They are convinced that the Indonesians will give
undertakings regarding the safety of those who have collaborated
with the Dutch and of Chinese and other personnel whom the Dutch
now say they are protecting. The Indonesian Commanders are in
touch with headquarters by radio, and there would be no great
difficulty in arranging orderly withdrawals.

2. The present absurd position regarding claimed demarcation lines
was brought out by the recent American 'plane crash [3] and the
capture by Indonesians of Dutch soldiers in what has been claimed
by the Dutch as a Dutch area.

1 Dispatched on 7 October, it reported discussion in the Security
Council in which the representatives of India, Poland and
Indonesia had all either directly or indirectly supported the
Soviet draft resolution calling for the withdrawal of troops to
positions held prior to the start of hostilities (see Document
365) while the representative of China had urged that the
Committee of Three use its good offices to secure a settlement.

2 Spence.

3 The reference is to the forced landing of an American aircraft
at Pameungpeuk on the south coast of Java. Although the area was
within the territory claimed by Van Mook to be under Dutch control
(see Document 316, note 2), three Dutch soldiers travelling on the
aircraft were detained and later released by local Republican
forces.


[AA:A1838/283, 403/3/1/1, xi]
Last Updated: 11 September 2013
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