Office of the Historian

S/S–NSC files, lot 63 D 351, NSC 5429 Series

Memorandum by the Joint Chiefs of Staff to the Secretary of Defense (Wilson)1

top secret
Washington, 17 December 1954.

Subject:

  • Current United States Policy in the Far East (NSC 5429/4).2
1.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff have reviewed the draft statement of policy, titled “Current United States Policy in the Far East” (NSC 5429/4), prepared by the National Security Council Planning Board pursuant to NSC Action No. 1275–b (12). The proposed policy, if adopted, is intended to supersede NSC 5429/2.
2.
The following comments are confined to those paragraphs of NSC 5429/4 marked by a double asterisk, inasmuch as the remainder of the proposed policy was agreed to by the Council at their meeting on 1 December 1954:
a.
Subparagraphs 5 c, 5 e, 5 g, 7 d, and subparagraph 10 i of Annex “A” are considered to be acceptable from a military point of view.
b.
With regard to the footnote to subparagraph 5 g, the Joint Chiefs of Staff consider that, under certain circumstances which might attend an unprovoked attack the security of the United [Page 1051] States forces involved would dictate that the United States commander on the spot be empowered to initiate pursuit into hostile air space or waters without awaiting the specific approval of the senior commander in the area. They feel, however, that it would be more appropriate for details of this nature to be incorporated in the directive to the armed forces rather than in a broad statement of policy.
c.
With respect to subparagraph 7 c, the Joint Chiefs of Staff consider that the policy for control of trade with Communist China should be developed within the context of the over-all United States economic defense policy, as visualized in the majority proposal, except that consultations with other countries should not take place until after the study referred to in subparagraph 7 c (2) has been completed. In their memorandum for you, dated 26 November 1954, Subject: “Current U.S. Policy Toward the Far East”3 (NSC 5429/3), the Joint Chiefs of Staff expressed the opinion that, from the military point of view, maximum restrictions on trade with Communist China would be most desirable. While they recognize that certain political and economic considerations may render infeasible the attainment of an optimum degree of trade control, they consider that the State proposal would permit excessive latitude in the execution of the policy. For the foregoing reasons, the Joint Chiefs of Staff recommend the adoption of the majority proposal, subject to deletion of the words “if feasible” in the second line of subparagraph 7 c (3).
3.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff consider that, subject to the foregoing comments, the provisions of NSC 5429/4 are acceptable from the military point of view.
4.
The Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff did not participate in the action of the Joint Chiefs of Staff outlined in this memorandum.
For the Joint Chiefs of Staff:
N. F. Twining
Chief of Staff
United States Air Force
  1. Attached to a covering note dated Dec. 20 from Lay to the National Security Council, not printed.↩
  2. Dated Dec. 10; for extracts, see p. 1035.↩
  3. Ante, p. 992.↩