271. Editorial Note
On June 26, 1967, President Johnson met with Romanian Prime Minister Ion Gheorghe Maurer, who was visiting Washington and was about to visit Peking. According to a memorandum of the conversation prepared [Page 583] in the Department of State, Johnson told Maurer the United States did not want war with China, did not seek to change China’s system of government, had no designs on Chinese territory, and wanted only to trade with China and get along to the extent that China would permit. He stated that he would like to talk to the Chinese about a non-proliferation treaty and to “work out ground rules so that we can avoid nuclear war.” He stated also that it would be “the height of folly” for the United States to want to go to war with China; nothing could be further from his mind. Noting that Maurer was about to visit other countries, Johnson stated that he was at liberty to describe their conversation and to quote anything Johnson had said, if it would be useful. For text of the memorandum of conversation, see Foreign Relations, 1964–1968, volume XVII, pages 430–435.
The Embassy in Bucharest reported on July 15 that Maurer had told visiting Austrian Chancellor Josef Klaus that he had found the Chinese preoccupied with the idea the United States was preparing to attack the China mainland and had told them what Johnson had said to him, but that they were not convinced. (Telegrams 61 and 62 from Bucharest, both July 15; Department of State, Central Files, POL 7 ROM)