357.AK/4–1951
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Assistant Secretary of State for United Nations Affairs (Hickerson)
Subject: Negotiations with Chinese Communists for Peaceful Settlement of Korean Dispute; Alleged U.S. Air Attacks Against China
| Participants: | Ambassador Entezam, President of General Assembly |
| John D. Hickerson, Department of State | |
| David Popper, Department of State |
Ambassador Entezam called this afternoon to bring us up to date on the status of the work of the Good Offices Committee.
He said that, following up Sir Benegal Rau’s suggestion a few days ago that the relief of General MacArthur might afford a new opportunity of approaching the Chinese Communists, the Good Offices Committee agreed that a new approach would be desirable although it did not agree that any detailed proposals should be made to Peiping. Rau concurred, and subsequently Pannikar approached the Chinese [Page 370] Communist Foreign Office. The Chinese Communists’ response was to the effect that they did not consider that the change in the Far Eastern command improved the prospects for peace, since it did not involve any change in U.S. policy.
The Chinese Communist response also referred to alleged air action by 200 bombers against the south China coast between Canton and Shanghai as well as air attacks in Fukien Province and in Manchuria. I said that I had heard of no such actions and that I was certain they had not occurred, but that I would make a check with the Defense Department and telephone Ambassador Entezam in the morning. The Ambassador felt that we should deny the Chinese Communists’ allegations, using the same channels of communication they had employed, in order that silence might not be deemed to indicate assent to the charges.
President Entezam made reference to the North Korean communication to the United Nations1 and said that the Good Offices Committee had examined it to determine whether it should be used as a basis for any approach to the North Koreans. The GOC had decided in the negative since the North Korean communication was essentially a condemnation of the U.S. and the UN and seemed to offer no hope for an acceptable negotiation.
Note: April 20, 1951
This morning I asked Mr. Johnson of NA to make a check with the Pentagon on the matter of the alleged air attack. The response was that the Pentagon knows nothing of any such attack and assumes that nothing of the kind has happened. At 10:30 this morning I telephoned Ambassador Entezam and gave him this information.