493.918/8–1053: Telegram
The Ambassador in India (Allen) to the Department of State
276. Eyes only Acting Secretary. Re Embtel 253, August 5.1 Following is draft of letter I presented to Pillai Friday, August 7, which might serve as basis for handling thorium nitrate case. Comment follows in immediately succeeding telegram.
“I refer to the exchange of notes between our two governments with respect to the recent shipment of thorium nitrate from India to China. In order to deal in a practical manner with the issues raised by this shipment, I would welcome your confirmation, on behalf of your government, of the following understanding which has been reached as a result of discussions in this case:
- “1. The Government of the US recognizes the sovereign right of the Government of India to trade with whom it pleases and in what commodities. Flowing from its sovereign prerogatives is the right of India voluntarily to restrict its trade in certain commodities, for reasons considered good and sufficient by the Government of India or to refuse such limitation.
- “2. The Government of India, for its part, recognizes fully the sovereign right of the Government of the US to grant or withhold its financial assistance to India on the basis of India’s decisions with regard to its trade in strategic materials to destinations considered inimical to the interests of the US or to the interests of collective security.
- “3. The recent shipment to China was intended for commercial purposes and not for atomic energy uses. Key officials who authorized the shipment did not “knowingly permit” it in the sense that at the time of shipment they were not aware of its related effect on the continuation of US aid. (The foregoing is intended as a factual statement and does not concern hypothetical questions relating to the action which might have been taken if the full consequences with regard to aid had been realized.)
- “4. The Government of India agrees, for reasons which it considers to be good and sufficient, that further shipments of the items on list I of the Battle Act will not be made to prohibited destinations.
- “5. The Government of the US agrees to reopen negotiations for the purchases by the US of thorium nitrate from India on the basis suggested by Dr. S. S. Bhatnagar in discussions with Mr. John Loftus on July 27.2
“Your confirmation of the foregoing understanding will constitute a basis on which our two governments will proceed until either government wishes to adopt a different basis.”3
- See footnote 3, supra.↩
- See footnote 2, supra.↩
- Ambassador Allen informed the Department in New Delhi telegram 288, Aug. 11, not printed, that when he handed the draft letter to Pillai, he told Pillai he had drafted it in such a fashion in order that both governments could defend any arrangements agreed upon from criticism. Pillai asked for 3 or 4 days to consult the appropriate members of his government, and he said that paragraph 4 would constitute the chief problem for India. (493.918/8–1153)↩