French authorities picked up on this schism in U.S. decision making and sought to exploit it. All too aware of the Americans’ preponderant power in the Western Pacific—“Nothing will or can be done in Indochina without their agreement, at least tacit,” one senior official reminded his colleagues—they stepped up their efforts in 1944 to reestablish France’s claim to Indochina, and to do so before Washington settled on firm policy. Most important, de Gaulle reasoned, would be to get French troops involved in the campaign to liberate Indochina.
