374. Memorandum of a Conversation, Prime Minister Diefenbaker’s Residence, Ottawa, July 28, 19571
PARTICIPANTS
- Prime Minister of Canada, John Diefenbaker
- Secretary of State, John Foster Dulles
- United States Ambassador, Livingston T. Merchant
SUBJECT
- Recognition of Communist China
The Secretary said that he wanted to raise the question of United States policy with respect to Communist China and its recognition. He handed the Prime Minister a copy of his San Francisco speech on the subject2 and said that this was the most comprehensive statement and explanation of United States policy on the matter. He said that he realized the Prime Minister had little spare time but that he greatly hoped that he would read it. The Prime Minister began leafing through it and said he would most certainly find the time; that he had read substantial extracts from the speech in the Paris Herald Tribune at the time he was in London for the Commonwealth Prime Ministers’ meeting. He said that he was opposed under existing circumstances to recognizing Communist China. He said that his position was the same as he had stated it in 1954. He regarded recognition as a privilege and not a right and he saw no reason to strengthen the power and prestige of a hostile country in light of its behavior and attitudes. This, the Prime Minister said, would only weaken the forces of resistance to communism in countries neighboring to China.
The Secretary said that he emphatically agreed and sketched briefly the consequences which could be expected from such action in Japan, Formosa, the Philippines, South Vietnam, Thailand and elsewhere.
The Prime Minister said that soon after St. Laurent’s visit to India two or three years ago, the Liberal Government had been on the verge of recognizing Communist China. In fact, he said, Mike Pearson had called him in for a private talk to ascertain whether or not Diefenbaker and the Conservative Party would support in Parliament a proposal for recognition. Mr. Diefenbaker said that, on the contrary, he would oppose such action by Canada. He said he then went on to tell Mr. [Page 904] Pearson that he would oppose it in terms comparable to Mr. Mackenzie King’s wartime statement about conscription, “Conscription if necessary but not necessarily conscription.” By that he said he meant that he would not say that Communist China should never be recognized but that under circumstances existing at that time, it should not be. He said he felt the same way today.
The Secretary expressed agreement and gratification. He said that he had understood that Mr. Diefenbaker had taken this position in support of United States policy at the Commonwealth Prime Ministers’ meeting and that he was glad he had done so. Mr. Diefenbaker nodded agreement.
- Source: Department of State, Secretary’s Memoranda of Conversation: Lot 64 D 199. Secret. Drafted by Merchant on July 30. See Documents 375 and 376 for memoranda of other parts of this conversation. After his visit to Ottawa, July 27–28, Dulles went to London for a meeting of the Subcommittee of the U.N. Disarmament Commission, which was held on August 2.↩
- For text of the Secretary’s speech to the Lions International Convention in San Francisco, June 28, see Department of State Bulletin, July 15, 1957, pp. 91–95.↩