47. Memorandum From the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Far Eastern Economic Affairs (Baldwin) to the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Far Eastern Affairs (Sebald)1
SUBJECT
- Simla Conference
At a meeting this morning in the Deputy Under Secretary’s Office, the Under Secretary stated that most of the persons present at yesterday’s OCB meeting were greatly concerned about developments in connection with India’s invitation to the Simla Conference.2 They were, he said, particularly concerned about a recent telegram from Karachi3 reporting comments by a Pakistan official concerning a meeting of Asians to discuss the Simla Conference which was held in Bandung during the Afro-Asian Conference.
At that meeting D.K. Nehru, a member of the Indian Delegation, described the Indian Government’s version of what should be discussed at Simla including “multilateral instead of bilateral distribution of U.S. aid.” The Under Secretary added that some very strongly critical remarks about Stassen’s approach to the Indians during his visit to New Delhi were made at the OCB meeting. The majority sentiment expressed at this meeting, he said, caused him to feel that consideration of postponement of the Simla meeting would be desirable. He referred to a feeling in the OCB that the discussions that might take place at the Simla Conference would produce resentment and increase opposition to the Mutual Security legislation in Congress.
The Deputy Under Secretary generally concurred in the Under Secretary’s remarks.
Fritz Nolting said that he was unable to agree completely. He had carefully read the record of Stassen’s conversations in New Delhi4 and, while admitting the possibility of some misinterpretation [Page 90] of the language used, he did not believe that Stassen’s remarks ran counter to the policy with respect to regional economic cooperation and the Colombo Plan as expressed in NSC 5506. He admitted that the United States should not support a conference at which Asian nations attempted to tell the U.S. how to distribute aid, but believed that could be avoided by an appropriate telegram to New Delhi and to our missions in the other countries concerned. He warned against any action by the U.S., possibly resulting from resentment against Nehru, which would be regarded in Asia as a deliberate affront to India, and expressed the opinion that our basic objective should be to endeavor by means of aid and otherwise to enable India to remain non-Communist regardless of Nehru’s policies and public utterances.
Jack Jernegan spoke more briefly but along the general lines of Nolting’s remarks.
Before the Under Secretary returned to his office, he expressed the opinion that the $200 million President’s Fund for Asian Economic Development would have hard sledding in Congress. He repeated a statement which he had made at a previous meeting that it would probably be necessary to present this fund as a part of the Defense program in order to avoid Congressional opposition.
After the Under Secretary had left the meeting, the discussion of the Simla Conference continued. By that time, however, the focus of the conference had shifted away from the immediate problem to the question of the U.S. aid policy with respect to India. That conversation produced no conclusive results.
Before the meeting broke up, I suggested that with respect to the Simla Conference we send a positive and direct telegram instructing our Embassy in New Delhi to make it clear to the Indians that there was still misunderstanding regarding the purposes of the Simla Conference; that the United States would inform the invited countries that it welcomed the idea of a conference which would devote itself solely to means of strengthening the Colombo Plan, including the establishment of a secretariat, but expressing opposition to broader terms of reference which would include matters concerning U.S. aid which were exclusively matters to be decided by the U.S. Government. Copies of this telegram would be sent to our missions in other invited countries which would make appropriate approaches to governments of those countries and, if possible, suggest that their acceptance of the Indian invitation make it clear that the terms of reference did not include items objectionable to the United States.
The meeting adjourned without a decision being made with respect to further action.
- Source: Department of State, FE Files: Lot 56 D 679, Simla Conference. Confidential.↩
- The “Preliminary Notes re OCB Meeting”, dated April 28 and drafted by Max Bishop, contain no mention of discussion of this topic at the April 27 OCB meeting. (Ibid., OCB Files: Lot 62 D 430, Preliminary Notes)↩
- Telegram 1592 from Karachi, April 26, not printed. (Ibid., Central Files, 890.00/4–2655)↩
- See footnote 2, Document 38.↩