VETO BYFRANCE

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25274, 28 August 1947, Page 7

VETO BYFRANCE

EXPLANATION GIVEN IN PARIS

INTERPRETATION OF U.N. CHARTER

(Rec. 10 p.m.) LONDON, August 27. The Paris correspondent of “The Times” says: “In official circles in Paris the French use of the veto at the Security Council on Monday against the Russian proposal to send a commission of inquiry to Indonesia was described as a step to avoid the abrogation of one of the principles of the Charter —Article 2, which excludes from the competence of the United Nations situations which concern essentially the national jurisdiction of a State. “It was argued that the principle of the powers of the Security Council, in this matter had never since the beginning of the Indonesian debate in thq, Council, been settled. “France, together with other members of the Council, doubts the Council’s competence since the Indonesian Republic not having. international recognition as a sovereign State, comes in its appeal against the Netherlands within the framework of Article 2. “The French say that that Russian, proposal, of which, they emphasise, no previous notice was given before it was brought before the Council, seeks to settle prejudicially the question of rne Council’s competence. It was to avoid ‘the destruction of one of the essentials of the’ Charter’ that the French veto was applied. ‘ ‘The same official source said that French veto in this case had not nad the same effect as on previous occasions when mvocation of the veto by a Great Power had prevented the Council from taking any action. In the present instance France voted for the Chinese-Australian and United States