176. Telegram From the Embassy in the Republic of China to the Department of State0
581. For Secretary. Your telegram 336.1 Admiral Smoot and I have sought all available opportunities to urge GRC to avoid all provocations.
We are satisfied all is well except in air where it appears GRC is conducting more aggressive patrolling of coastal areas than seems desirable or warranted in present state of affairs. MND has issued a satisfactory directive to CAF covering this problem, but on October 10 and again October 11 it appears CAF planes were over Communist territory—if our radar monitoring is correct.
Admiral Smoot and I will seek further opportunities to urge complete restraint at this juncture. Will also ask Secretary McElroy, who arrives this afternoon and is to have conference with Gimo tomorrow at ten o’clock, to suggest utmost restraint.2
- Source: Department of State, Central Files, 793.00/10–1258. Secret; Priority; Limit Distribution. The documents cited in footnotes 1 and 2 below are in the Supplement.↩
- Telegram 336 to Taipei, October 11, a personal message to Drumright from Dulles, reads: “I assume everything possible has been done to assure that over coming hours and days Nationalists will hold their fire unless attacked and will avoid provocative actions.” (Department of State, Central Files, 793.00/10–158)↩
- Drumright reported in telegram 596, sent on October 14 but incorrectly dated October 15, that McElroy had stressed to Chiang the importance of restraint and that Drumright had spoken along similar lines to Defense Minister Yu on October 12. (Ibid., 793.00/10–1558)↩