8. Editorial Note
A letter dated March 25, 1958, addressed to Edwin W. Martin and signed by Lai Ya-li, Assistant to Ambassador Wang Ping-nan, declared that the Chinese Government could neither consent to a “unilateral change in the level of the Sino-American ambassadorial talks” nor agree “to leave the talks in a protracted suspension... so that no reality exists of the talks under an empty name.” Extracts are printed in American Foreign Policy: Current Documents, 1958, pages 1132–1133. The text was transmitted to the Department of State in telegram 961 from Geneva, March 26. (Department of State, Central Files, 611.93/3–2658)
On April 12, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China released Wang’s January 14 letter to Johnson (see Document 1), Martin’s March 12 letter to Wang (see footnote 2, Document 4), and Lai’s letter, along with a statement charging that “for the past four months, the United States has been playing fraudulent tricks to stall the Sino-American talks.” A copy of the statement was delivered to the Consulate General in Geneva with a covering letter of April 12 from Lai to Martin; a translation was transmitted in telegram 1117 from Geneva, April 12. (Department of State, Central Files, 611.93/4–1258)
A Department of State press officer at the weekly press briefing on April 14 made the following statement: “Despite the disappointing results of the Geneva talks brought about by Chinese Communist intransigence, the United States believes that they should continue.” The statement continued: “As Mr. Martin indicated to the Chinese Communist representative in his letter of March 12, the United States intends to appoint an ambassador as soon as feasible as United States representative. In the meantime, Mr. Martin stands ready to meet with a Chinese Communist representative.” (Filed with a letter of April 24 from Robertson to Mary V. Downey; ibid., FE Files: Lot 60 D 90, Americans Held in China)