Foreign Relations of the United States, 1955–1957, Volume III, Microfiche Supplement, China

528. Letter 34 from McConaughy to Johnson¹

Letter No. 34

Washington, March 9, 1956

Dear Alex:

We have received your 1614 analyzing the March 8 meeting, and two out of seven sections of your 1615 giving the record of the meeting. We don’t see how we can give you any variant to freshen the atmosphere at the next meeting. It is vexing to have to waltz around the floor to the same old music for the umpteenth time. We understand and share your antipathy for this business but our strategy requires us to stand fast and to do nothing to precipitate a walkout. Your pertinacity will put an extra star in your crown.

One of the 37 Chinese named by Wang came in to see us yesterday in a state of great agitation. He is [text not declassified]. A senior member of the University faculty accompanied him. The occasion of the visit was his receipt of a letter from Wang, enclosing a copy of the Agreed Announcement. It was posted in Geneva February 28. An informal English translation of the letter is enclosed. We do not know how many of these letters Wang has mailed, but the presumption is that he has sent the letter to all the Chinese whose addresses are known to the PRC. [text not declassified] suspects that his name and address were obtained from one of the students who recently returned to the Mainland. There is a printed list of the members of the Chinese Students Club at the University of Illinois, and this list was probably taken back to China by one of the recent travelers. [text not declassified] thinks that the letter to him signifies that his wife and two children will be pressured in some way if he does not return. Of course he does not want to go back. He is completely adjusted and committed to life in this country, and has already taken out his first citizenship papers. He would like to bring his family over. But he is not willing to intimate in any way either in a letter to the Mainland or in conversation here outside of the Department that he wants to stay here, or that he has not been prevented from returning to the Mainland. He is scared to death, so much so that he insisted that we blank out his name and all other identifying data from the letter sent him before we photostated it. The letter apparently is a circular form, with blanks to be filled in as appropriate. This man will not talk to the Indian Embassy or do anything to disillusion the Chinese Communists or otherwise set the record straight, so long as his close relatives are at the mercy of the Chinese Communists. This case is probably typical of what we are up against.

Hubert Graves told me at lunch on the 5th that he had just received an informal note from O’Neill stating that Chou En-lai or Chang Han-fu—I forget which, had recently mentioned to a diplomat in Peiping that the PRC has a list of 200 Chinese who are in American prisons, which the Chinese Communists are holding in reserve for possible future use. We surmise that the PRC does not intend to produce this list at Geneva, at least for the present, but is keeping it as an ace in the hole for exploitation when the recriminations start, if there is a break off. My guess is that if there is a list of 200, the great majority are American citizens of Chinese race, but this would not necessarily prevent the PRC from getting some propaganda mileage out of the list.

The Chinese Embassy here, and the large Chinese community in San Francisco and New York, are greatly upset over the extensive Federal Grand Jury investigation of the Chinese passport fraud racket. A very energetic Assistant District Attorney in San Francisco is pushing an unusually vigorous investigation there, with the officers of many Chinese benevolent, fraternal and family societies, being subpoenaed to appear before the Grand Jury with all their records. Many ill-informed Chinese apparently think that the information sought is eventually to be turned over to the Chinese Communists as part of some deal growing out of the Geneva talks. It is a far fetched apprehension, but apparently is real and widespread. The Chinese Embassy claims that many Chinese are in a state of near panic. We are sending you a copy of a memorandum of conversation on this subject.

In reference to the unaccounted for military personnel, Col. Monroe says Defense is working on the list of 450 and expects to have a revision ready about the middle of next week. There will be a reduction in the total number of names resulting from the identification of some additional bodies. There will also be some new information on many of the names. Also the list will show what the recent Communist “accounting” at Panmunjom was with respect to each name. (Incidentally, Defense will be sending a message to the MAC shortly stating we consider the accounting inadequate and spelling out why.) A copy of the above list will be sent to us and to you.

I think nothing further need be said about this at Geneva for the time being.

We spent last Sunday afternoon at the Department studying the Chinese Communist statement and deciding how we would handle it. I gather you agreed with our decision not to be hasty in our reply, and to itch it in a restrained key. Neither the Chinese Communist statement nor our reply got any appreciable play from the press. We think it was just as well no great attention was paid to the exchange. I apologize for the slip which resulted in your not getting our reply until 24 hours after it was issued. We had been assured through FE/P that you would get it promptly through the USIA bulletin. For some unaccountable reason USIA did not carry it in its European Service, although it was carried in the Far East and Middle Eastern Service. I had a copy telegraphed you early on the morning of March 7, just on a hunch that you might have missed it. It was on its way before you telephoned. But you should have had it immediately and in the future we will see that anything of comparable interest is telegraphed especially to you at once. We will not rely on USIA for this service.

A few short miscellaneous items. There was an error in my last letter in the amount of Miner’s account. The total amount for which the C.V. Starr Company is requesting a license from Treasury is approximately $88,000. Prospects seem to be pretty good that Treasury will license the full amount requested, and that the local authorities will accept the settlement and give Miner his exit permit.

We have sent the Liu Yung-ming dossier to the American Red Cross for transmittal to the Red Cross in Peiping.

We are working on the possibility of temporarily detailing John Holdridge to Geneva in place of Stanley. Holdridge is here on home leave from Hong Kong and could return to Hong Kong by way of Europe with very little extra travel expense. Hong Kong has been anxious to play a somewhat more active part in the Geneva talks, and this would give them their chance. The experience would be good for Holdridge and his observations would be useful to all our political reporting people in Hong Kong when he returns there. He is a China language officer with a good record although he is young. This is all tentative but I wanted you to know the way the wind is blowing. Presumably he could not stay in Geneva indefinitely, but it is questionable if the talks will continue indefinitely.

The House Foreign Affairs Committee is very fully occupied with the Foreign Aid Bill, and for this reason has postponed the hearings on Chinese Communist mistreatment of Americans prisoners until May. Lindbeck has finished his work. He has winnowed out the 50 most significant cases of mistreatment and has included case summaries of only these 50 with his report. He took into account your very constructive suggestions when he revised his first draft.

Your letter of February 28 (No. 24) came on March 5 and was warmly welcomed.

We ought to be hearing something from New Delhi over the weekend. Regards and good luck,

Sincerely,

Walter P. McConaughy

Enclosures:

1. Copy of letter to [text not declassified]

2. Despatch No. 484 from Taipei

1. Source: Department of State, Geneva Talks Files, Lot 72D415. Secret; Official–Informal.