493.119/11–2950
Memorandum by the Assistant Secretary of State for Far Eastern Affairs (Rusk) to the Secretary of State
It is recommended that you reply to Secretary Sawyer on the subject of an embargo on trade with China along the following lines:
The present phase of the Korean matter requires extremely careful handling if we are to hold together United Nations majority behind whatever measures must be taken. This means that we must act to the extent possible through the organization and with full consultation with our principal friends. We expect a veto of the resolution on Korea now before the Security Council.1 Following that, the matter will probably go to the General Assembly in the next few days. The General Assembly will have to take up the entire question of the political and economic pressures which can be brought to bear upon Peiping to force them to pull back in Korea. We believe this is the proper forum in which to have this matter decided and that unilateral action on our part two or three days before the issue comes before the General Assembly might seriously weaken our chances of getting a solid front in the United Nations.
If it is necessary for you to discuss this with the Congress, it is suggested that you state that the issue of Chinese aggression and the measures which are to be taken by the United Nations are now before the United Nations. Because of this we believe that we should not take action on our own within the next three or four days along the lines of a general embargo on US–China trade.
- Reference is to the six-power draft resolution (U.N. document S/1894) introduced in the Security Council on November 10 by Cuba, Ecuador, France, Norway, the United Kingdom, and the United States, which called on the People’s Republic of China to withdraw its nationals from Korea and declared that it was United Nations policy to hold the Sino-Korean frontier inviolate. The resolution was vetoed by the Soviet Union on November 30. For related documentation, see volume vii .↩