Reference: Telegram of October 31? from the Vietnamese Foreign Minister and telegram No. 574 from Hanoi? (copies attached)

Since we have now received a message from the Vietnamese Government formally notifying us of the elevation of President Diem to the position of Chief of State, and of the fact that the State of Vietnam has been proclaimed a republic, it is necessary for us to decide whether we should now extend recognition to the new government in the State of Vietnam,

2. In our telegram No. Y-690 of October 21? to Paris (repeated to Hanoi) we gave the following as the Department's preliminary view on this matter of recognition:

"Recognition of Diem's régime by us is not, in our view, necessary for the performance of our task on the Commission any more than recognition of the DR régime is necessary, and we would prefer that this step be taken as a result of the normal requirements of our relations with the State of Vietnam independent of the performance of our tasks on the Commission."

In telegram No. 103 of October 26? from Saigon, Mr. Johnson said that he agreed that there was no need for us to take any hasty action with respect to the recognition of Diem as head of state following the October 23 referendum.

3. While we have been kept informed of the intentions of the United States, the United Kingdom and other governments to extend recognition to Diem promptly following the referendum, no other government suggested that we should take this step at the same time.

4. In telegram No. 574 of October 28,? Mr. Johnson has suggested that recognition of Diem as head of state should not be delayed too long, and that recognition by Canada now would come after an appropriate interval following recognition by the United States, France, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and Thailand.

5. We see no objection to extending recognition at this time, and the receipt of the telegram from the Vietnamese Foreign Minister will make it difficult for us to delay in doing so without good reasons.

6. Attached for your approval if you agree is a telegram to New Delhi for the Minister on his arrival there on November 3 recommending that a message be sent in reply to the Foreign Minister's telegram. Our reply would constitute recognition of the new régime in South Vietnam.

7. The message we have suggested that the Minister send to the Vietnamese Foreign Minister is similar to the corresponding messages that have been sent by the United Kingdom and United States Governments. These messages read as follows:

"Her Majesty's Ambassador acknowledges receipt of the Foreign Minister's letter and looks forward to the continuance of the friendly relations which have existed in the past between Her Majesty's Government and the Government of the State of Vietnam."

"The Government of the United States looks forward to maintaining with the new Government of Vietnam the same cordial and friendly relations which have in the past so happily existed between the two governments."

8. There would seem to be no need for us, on the one hand, to take special note of the reference in the Vietnamese telegram to the de jure recognition by the Government of Canada of the State of Vietnam, nor, on the other hand, of the fact that under the Geneva settlement the administration in South Vietnam is a provisional one pending the establishment of a government for a unified Vietnam after elections have taken place. Our message to the Vietnamese Foreign Minister is, accordingly, drafted to omit reference to these two points.

9. We see no necessity for making any public announcement concerning the message to the Vietnamese Foreign Minister which accords recognition to the new régime.

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