Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961–1963, Volume XXII, Northeast Asia

163. Memorandum by the Deputy Director for Intelligence (Cline)⁰

Washington, January 14, 1963.

SUBJECT

• Sino-Soviet Relations

1. Attached is a CIA memorandum¹ dealing with the status and implications of the Sino-Soviet dispute. The paper points out that the ideological conflict between the two Communist parties and the divergence of the national policies of the two governments are already so fundamental that, for most practical purposes, a “split” has already occurred. From the viewpoint of most of the rest of the world, the USSR and China are now two separate powers whose interests conflict on almost every major issue.

2. A formal and definitive break between Moscow and Peiping would obviously have many important advantages for the West. However, the emergence of a separate Asian Communist Bloc under the leadership of China could have grave implications for U.S. security interests in the Far East because of Peiping’s militant and intense anti-Western line.

Ray S. Cline

0. Source: Kennedy Library, National Security Files, Countries Series, USSR. Secret.
1. The attached CIA memorandum, OCI No. 0581/63, dated January 14, entitled “Sino-Soviet Relations at a New Crisis,” is not printed.