As suggested by the Prime Minister, I have spoken to Teppema [1],
and he is sending a message to Batavia, but he indicated quite
clearly that, if the ban were not removed on Dutch goods going to
Indonesia, there would not be consent from Batavia on relief
supplies going to Indonesia generally.

While it is clear that the maintenance of the ban does not assist
the Republicans, it is equally clear from his replies to questions
that the relaxation of the ban will work in favour of only the
Dutch-occupied area, and therefore the Government can be readily
accused of discrimination in favour of one party to a dispute
against the other party.

This position is all the more apparent as a result of Australia's
de facto recognition of the Republican Government and therefore a
right to trade direct with the Republican Government. So far we
have refrained from doing this, hoping for agreement between the
two parties.

Teppema also said that he had informed the Prime Minister that it
was impossible for a joint statement of Republican and Dutch
authorities to be made, as was the case before the ban was
previously lifted [2], as the Dutch do not now recognise the
existence of a Republican Government and therefore do not admit
that there is any authority which could be party to a joint
statement.

The only conclusion that can be reached is that the Dutch
authorities have absolutely no intention of allowing either relief
goods or goods in the course of normal transaction to enter
Republican territories until they have reached the agreement they
seek through the Committee of Good Offices.