On 1 August 1947, an Australian resolution in the United Nations Security Council calling for a ceasefire between the Dutch and Indonesian Republican forces was passed.

This assistance would take the form of a Committee of Good Offices (CGO, known locally in Indonesia as the Trilateral Commission (Indonesian: Komisi Tiga Negara, KTN, not to be confused with the current Trilateral Commission)) made up of three representatives, one appointed by the Netherlands, one by Indonesia and a third, mutually agreed by both sides.

[2][3] A few days later, on 29 August 1947, the Dutch proclaimed the Van Mook Line, claiming it marked the extent of the areas they held as of the ceasefire.

The republic was left with about a third of Java and most of the island of Sumatra, but the republican forces were cut off from the main food-growing regions.

After considering overseas locations and a US battleship, US Assistant Secretary of State Dean Rusk proposed using the unarmed transport ship USS Renville, which was brought to Indonesia and anchored in Jakarta Bay.

[7] On 26 December as negotiations stalled, the CGO issued a "Christmas Message", a proposal calling for a truce with the Van Mook line as a military boundary.

However, Dutch forces withdrew to positions held before the July 1947 military action and the republicans would take over civilian administration upon returning to those areas.

Among these was a demand for free elections for people to decide their relationship with the future United States of Indonesia and for both sides to guarantee freedom of assembly and speech.

The Indonesian side also felt that referendums in the regions would result in victory for the pro-Republicans and that they would be able to dominate the federal government.

Similarly Republican leaders faced great difficulty in persuading their people to accept diplomatic concessions.

The fear of such incursions actually succeeding, along with apparent Republican undermining of the Dutch-established Pasundan state and negative reports, lead to the Dutch leadership increasingly seeing itself as losing control.