71. Letter From Acting Secretary of State Herter to Foreign Secretary Lloyd1
Dear Selwyn: You are no doubt aware that an issue has arisen in the Board of Governors of the IAEA in Vienna concerning a proposal of the IAEA Secretariat to send a technical assistance survey mission to five East Asian countries, including the Republic of China. A similar mission was sent to five Southeast Asian countries in January of this year after approval by the Board of Governors. The sending of the second mission to the five FE countries is being challenged, however, by the Soviet Union in pure cold war terms on the basis of the inclusion of the Republic of China on the mission’s itinerary. It is expected that, when the Secretariat’s proposal comes to a vote in the Board, the Soviets will move that the Republic of China be dropped from the mission.
In our view, such an exclusion of the Republic of China would be a violation of that country’s right to technical assistance as a full and equal member of the Agency. We believe that a basic principle is involved and that Soviet success in this tactic would be detrimental to the Free World and Agency interests.
The Foreign Office has taken the position that, while your government would be able to vote affirmatively for the mission as a whole, with an appropriate statement explaining its vote, it would be forced to abstain on a separate vote on the Republic of China.
In the representations of the Department of State and our Embassy in London to your government, we have stressed the following points: (1) the Republic of China is a full member of the IAEA entitled to equal treatment in receiving technical assistance from the Agency; (2) the Agency is a technical organization whose operations will be seriously impaired if political reservations are raised each time a member’s request for technical assistance is considered; (3) the position of your government with respect to the membership of the Republic of China was made clear at the time of the latter’s ratification of the Statute;2 (4) your government has supported technical assistance to the Republic of China in the UN and several of its specialized agencies and we hoped it would follow these precedents in the IAEA; and, finally and most important, (5) this issue is not a question of credentials [Page 125] and we hoped that your government would not extend its views on the credentials question into a matter affecting normal operations within a UN agency. We, therefore, requested your government to vote affirmatively on the Far East mission as a whole or on a separate vote on the GRC.
These representations have not been successful, however, and I am therefore appealing to you to give your personal attention to this problem in terms of the political considerations involved rather than the more narrow legal ones. I sincerely believe that the position of your government apparently equating the issue of technical assistance to a member of a UN agency with the credentials question has grave and far-reaching implications. It could jeopardize the whole concept of technical assistance administered through the UN and its Agencies to Member States. Moreover, Soviet success in downgrading the government of the Republic of China through this maneuver would tend to undermine the latter’s position as a full and equal member in other UN agencies and quite possibly have other undesirable repercussions far beyond the immediate issue involved. It would involve a public US-UK division on China of a completely new character which might be interpreted as involving a significant policy change, which we do not believe your government intends.
I therefore strongly hope that your government’s instructions will be altered to permit its Delegation in Vienna to vote to include the Republic of China in this technical mission, however the issue may arise. We know of no other case where your government has refused to concur in the normal program of the UN and its agencies involving a Member State in good standing. As previously stated, the US is fully prepared to accept an explanation of your vote, if your government feels this necessary.
Most sincerely,
- Source: Department of State, Presidential Correspondence: Lot 66 D 204. Confidential; Limited Distribution. Drafted by Stanger. Transmitted priority to London in telegram 8964, April 9, which is the source text. Telegram 8964 was repeated priority to Vienna.↩
- The Statute of the International Atomic Energy Agency, done at New York October 26, 1956, entered into force July 29, 1957. (8 UST 1093)↩
- Telegram 8964 bears this typed signature.↩