310.2/9–1654
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Director of the Office of British Commonwealth and Northern European Affairs (Raynor)
- Subject:
- Chinese Representation in the UN; Other UN Matters.
Minister Thors called this noon at my request.
[Here follows brief discussion of a General Assembly committee chairmanship question.]
Chinese Representation. I said that there was a UN matter of the greatest importance to the US which I wanted to take up with him; namely, the question of Chinese representation in the UN. I said we had been somewhat disturbed when we had read the communiqué emanating from the Foreign Ministers Conference at Reykjavik but that we gathered that the terms of the communiqué did not necessarily bind the conferees to support the seating of the Chinese Communists at the Ninth Session. I said in this connection that I had been most gratified to receive a report over night from our Chargé, Thomas Dillon, in Reykjavik to the effect that the Foreign Minister had told him yesterday that Iceland would not vote for the admission of Peiping but hoped that the question would not come to a vote. (The Minister obviously had not had a report of this conversation.)
I then said that it was planned that a resolution almost identical to the one passed at the Assembly last year would be introduced which would call for not acting on this matter in the Ninth Session during the current year. I gave the Minister a copy of the text. He inquired as to other countries which in our view would support this resolution. I told him that we had reached agreement on the resolution with the British and that I thought we would obtain approximately the same favorable vote on it this year as we had last.
He then reviewed briefly the discussion of this matter at Reykjavik saying that the Swedes had pressed the matter strongly; the Norwegians somewhat less so and the Danes still less. He said on his advice that his Foreign Minister had explained that Iceland was in a different position from the other three in that Iceland had not recognized Communist China and did not have a mission in Peiping. He said as a result of this Iceland had reserved its position on the matter and minutes of the Reykjavik meeting so stated. He said when it came to writing the communiqué the Swedes had pressed for using the expression “soonest possible” and Iceland had succeeded in watering this down to “as soon as possible”. He said the latter expression was the same as had been used in the communiqué in 1953 and in his opinion did not bind any of the parties to voting for Chinese admission at this Session. He said that he had been talking to the Norwegians and Danes [Page 795] attempting to get them to see the matter in his light. I gathered he plans to continue these discussions. He said the Danish Permanent Representative, Borberg, has requested instructions from his government. I gather he has not had much luck in his talks with the Norwegians. He asked if we would be talking to the Norwegians and Danes and I told him I was quite certain we would.
I pressed him several times during the conversation to say that Iceland would support the resolution no matter what position the Norwegians and Danes might take. On the first two attempts the Minister did not respond directly. At one point he said that there would be criticisms in Iceland and possibly domestic political trouble if they voted different from the Scandinavians. I said I thought they should take into account how the NATO countries in general voted and I said I felt confident almost all of the NATO countries would vote for this resolution with the possible exception of Norway and Denmark. I added that he, Minister Thors, must know how strong the feeling here in this country is on the question. I said should Iceland vote against us on the matter it would certainly not be in the interest of furthering US-Icelandic relations. Finally the Minister said “my Foreign Minister will do what I advise him to do on this matter. I will, of course, have to talk with him when he arrives in New York but I believe we will support the resolution”.
Note: I believe that the chances are at least 95% favorable on this matter.