306. Editorial Note
At a news conference on October 6, 1959, Secretary of State Herter made a number of comments on U.S. policy toward China and Sino-Soviet relations. When asked whether he saw any easing of tension in the Far East as a result of Khrushchev’s visits to Washington and Peking, he replied that he could see “no visible easing of tensions as between [the] Chinese Communists and ourselves.” He went on to remark, however, that there had been some discrepancies between Khrushchev’s statements in Peking and the Chinese statements and concluded that this might indicate that the Soviets were “taking a rather different line” on [Page 605] international affairs from that of the Chinese. He replied to a subsequent question that it was “very difficult” to determine how deep the differences were between the two.
When asked how he reconciled his remarks on Sino-Soviet relations with Chinese recognition of Soviet leadership in the Communist world, Herter stated: “There is no question in our mind that that demand for recognition as the leader of the Communist world places upon the Russians a degree of responsibility for the actions of other members of the bloc that is very real.” In response to subsequent questions, he elaborated this view. When asked if in the U.S. view, the Soviet Government has some responsibility for China’s actions in such specific places as Korea, Formosa, and Laos, he replied: “A degree of responsibility, as long as they maintain that they are the leaders of the bloc.”
To the question of what conditions he would regard as necessary for diplomatic recognition of the Chinese Communists, Herter replied:
“We have never laid out specific conditions. We have often enumerated, as Mr. Robertson did at the United Nations, some of the very basic difficulties that have grown up between us. The continued imprisonment contrary to signed agreement of five American citizens in China is one. The continuing overt threat to use force against Taiwan is another. The continued condemnation as an aggressor of the Chinese Communists by the United Nations is the third. I wouldn’t say that that was an exclusive list, and I wouldn’t want to say that we would necessarily recognize Communist China if all of those conditions were rectified, but they are among some of the very real grievances that we have and it makes us feel that it is not in our national interest to recognize the Chinese Communists at this time.”
The transcript of the news conference is in Department of State Bulletin, October 26, 1959, pages 575–581; extracts are printed in American Foreign Policy: Current Documents, 1959, pages 1178–1180. The statement which U.S. Representative Walter S. Robertson made on September 21 before the U.N. General Assembly on the question of Chinese representation in the United Nations is ibid., pages 106–114.