176. Telegram Unnumbered to Hagerty in Denver1
Text and substance of background press material on prospective Geneva announcement has been changed. I will brief US press in this sense, not Robertson. Other arrangements stand. New guidance text follows:
The Announcement issued September 10 at Geneva by US Ambassador U. Alexis Johnson and Chinese Communist Ambassador Wang Ping-nan relates to the repatriation of civilians who desire to return to their respective countries. The discussions which resulted in this Announcement required 14 meetings over a span of six weeks. The Announcement means precisely what it says. There are no hidden or ambiguous meanings to be read into it. There are no side understandings or agreements whatever in relation to it.
THE ANNOUNCEMENT COVERS THE FOLLOWING:
1. People’s Republic of China recognizes that Americans on the Chinese Mainland who desire to return to the US may do so and commits itself to permit them expeditiously to exercise their right to return.
2. The Office of the Charge d’Affaires of the UK, at the request of the US Government and with the concurrence of the PRC, [Facsimile Page 2] will assist those Americans who request its aid in facilitating their return to the United States.
3. The Government of the United States reaffirms the right of Chinese in the United States who wish to return to the China Mainland, to do so. The Government of India by invitation of the US Government will aid those Chinese who voluntarily ask the Indian Embassy in Washington for facilitation of their return to the China Mainland. The PRC suggested India and the United States concurred.
The United States has consistently recognized in principle the right of Chinese in this country to return to the mainland of China if they so desire. During the Korean War, this right was temporarily suspended as to 129 Chinese students with advanced technical training which could be used against the United States by an enemy. The restraining orders against this small group of Chinese (less than 3 percent of the Chinese students who have come to this country since 1945) were rescinded some time before the current Ambassadorial talks at Geneva [Typeset Page 230] began, and Chinese who wish to depart from the United States for any destination have been and are free to do so.
The Announcement does not constitute an Agreement, governmental or otherwise, but is in the form of parallel unilateral statements.
The Announcement does not accord any degree of diplomatic recognition on the part of the US Government to the Chinese Communist regime or change the US position in that regard. The conversations were conducted on the basis indicated by Secretary of State Dulles at Berlin [Facsimile Page 3] in February 1954 when he stated that the US Government would be prepared to deal with the Peiping authorities in regard to limited subjects where they are necessarily a party at interest.
The Announcement does not give the People’s Republic of China any claim to the allegiance of the Chinese in the United States and covers only those Chinese in the US who voluntarily express a desire to return to the China Mainland.
The Indian Government will not be a QUOTE Protecting Power END QUOTE in this country for the Chinese Communists but will afford limited assistance to individuals as provided in the Announcement.
Chief, News Division
- Source: Department of State, Central Files, 611.93/9–955. Confidential. Drafted by Suydam.↩