152. Note From Secretary of State Dulles to Foreign Secretary Lloyd1
CHINA TRADE
We hope very much that the question of the claim of Communist China to a seat in the United Nations can be handled on a basis which presupposes greater unity between us on the substance of the matter.
We have a program for dealing with the China differential which has been approved by the National Security Council but as to which we are still in consultation with the Congress. It would, as I recall, amalgamate completely the two lists with an addition of certain items which we consider strategic to what would be the common list and the subtraction of a considerably greater number of items from what is now the China list. However, I think that our proposal contemplates that while there would be a single list there might still be a differential between Russia and China in terms of “prohibition”, “limitation” or “watch”. We shall put this forward just as quickly as we have had the Congressional consultations, which will, we hope, allay serious opposition. Of course, just as it would be easier for you to take a stronger position against Chinese [Page 438] representation in the United Nations if the China trade differential were disposed of to your satisfaction, so from our standpoint it would doubtless be easier to deal with the trade question if we knew that your attitude on the substance of Chinese representation in the United Nations would be more positive.
Perhaps we shall in practice have to move forward on both fronts in a somewhat synchronized manner.
- Source: Department of State, Conference Files: Lot 62 D 181, CF 868. According to a handwritten notation on the source text, Dulles handed this note to Lloyd on March 23.↩