336. Letter From Acting Secretary of Defense Quarles to the Under Secretary of State (Herter)0
Dear Mr. Herter: Because of the serious military situation and the continuing ChiCom build-up in the Formosa Straits area, the views of the Joint Chiefs of Staff were requested as to whether an attempt should be made to restore at least temporarily the embargo of certain items recently removed from multilateral control to Communist China, and to reimpose a more extensive control of cargo vessels calling at Communist Chinese ports.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff have now given their views in a Memorandum for the Secretary of Defense, dated September 26, 1958, inclosed herewith, together with a copy of request for their views.1 Prompt initiation of the government-to-government contacts suggested by the Joint Chiefs of Staff would appear to be entirely appropriate at this time. It should be noted that the JCS recommend the initiation of bilateral negotiations leading to the reimposition of embargo control on only those items most directly related to the immediate military build-up of the Communist Chinese, and not a reopening of multilateral negotiations for the broad reimposition of COCOM controls which were drastically reduced in August of this year. It is suggested that the proposed agreement to act in concert with our Allies would be useful, not only as a potential means of interfering with the supply of the Communist military forces, but also as a bargaining point in the current Warsaw discussions.
It is sincerely hoped that these suggestions may meet with your approval and that appropriate action may be taken. The Defense Department will be happy to assist you in this matter in any way possible.
Sincerely yours,