Office of the Historian

130. Letter From Secretary of State Rusk to the Ambassador to Poland1

Washington, March 4, 1966.

Dear John:

I have inquired about Bob McNamara’s reply to your inquiry which you mentioned in your letter of February 12.2 I understand that a close check has been made of the Chinese charges of incidents on the high seas and that Bob will be writing to you shortly.

In view of your recommendation3 we have decided to drop the idea of shifting the talks with the Chinese to each other’s Embassy in Warsaw. The Chinese are undoubtedly aware of the Polish microphones and may be talking to the Poles and the Russians as well as to us. Nevertheless, until we detect any sign of change in the Chinese attitude we may as well continue with the present venue.

The instructions for the next meeting are being prepared and they will get to you in sufficient time to allow you to make any comment or suggestion you may desire. I hope the next meeting goes off well. While I don’t expect any basic change in the Chinese position, it will be interesting to see if Wang brings back any new attitudes from his recent meetings in Peking.

With best regards,

Sincerely,

Dean 4
  1. Source: Department of State, Central Files, POL CHICOM-US. Secret; Official-Informal. Drafted by Dean. Cleared by Jacobson, Berger, Stoessel, and Colonel Cowherd in FE for Defense.↩
  2. In Gronouski’s February 12 letter (ibid.) he referred to a December 17 letter to McNamara, in which he observed that Wang had referred repeatedly, and with emotion, to incidents of strafing of Chinese fishing boats on the high seas by U.S. planes and asked whether steps could be taken to avoid or at least minimize such incidents. (Filed with McNamara’s interim reply of December 30; Washington National Records Center, RG 330, OASD/ISA Files: FRC 70 A 3717, 381 Communist China)↩
  3. Gronouski commented in his February 12 letter that he thought it was “useful” that the Poles and the Russians had first-hand knowledge of the substance and tone of the talks and that the United States should as much as possible gear its presentations to the Poles and Russians.↩
  4. Printed from a copy that indicates Rusk signed the original.↩