795.00/11–1050
Memorandum by the Director of the Office of Chinese Affairs (Clubb) to the Assistant Secretary of State for Far Eastern Affairs (Rusk)
Subject: Possible Démarche by Swedish Ambassador at Peking
It is suggested that the Swedish Government, because of its concern in the general problem of maintenance of world peace, might desire [Page 1124] to instruct its Ambassador at Peking who is persona grata with the Chinese Communist regime to make an approach to the Peking Foreign Office for a discussion of the present situation arising out of Chinese Communist intervention in Korea.
The approach could have as its nominal motivation the desire to convey to the Chinese Communist authorities an outside point of view respecting developments in Korea and particularly to present the UN point of view. It has been noted that despite efforts by the UN generally and the U.S. in particular to indicate that UN operations in Korea constitute no threat to China, the content of current Chinese publicity respecting developments in that area would indicate that the Chinese Communist leaders view those UN actions as reflecting aggressive American intentions against China. The U.S. position in regard to Korea is identical with and a part of the UN position respecting Korea. It is in essence that the sole purpose of present UN operations (which include U.S. operations) in Korea is the re-establishment of order in that country, its unification on the basis of the principles of international justice and its economic rehabilitation. The tenor of UN thinking, and likewise U.S. thinking, is shown by the resolution currently being introduced in the Security Council by the Franco-Anglo-American delegations.1 That resolution proposes that the UN forces operating in Korea are acting on the basis of a policy of respect for the boundaries of China. The traditional American position has been and is one of respect for the territorial integrity of China, and the present policy of the U.S. Government is to support and maintain peace in the Pacific area as well as elsewhere throughout the world.
This Government would be grateful if the Swedish representative at Peking could point out to the Chinese Communist leaders the many evidences of UN and U.S. bona fides in respect to the developments in point and could discuss with those leaders the situation which has been created as a result of the appearance in Korea of Chinese Communist troops.
It is this Government’s idea that such a démarche might have the beneficial result of bringing about some détente in the present strained political situation and would, at the least, possibly bring out some indication of the present course of Chinese Communist thinking respecting this serious matter.2