Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964–1968, Volume XXX, China

88. Memorandum From the President’s Special Assistant for National Security Affairs (Bundy) to President Johnson¹

Washington, June 4, 1965, 11:10 a.m.

SUBJECT

• Item in CIA daily brief²

1. The CIA daily brief last night had a very important annex on Chinese Communist policy toward Vietnam, but they did not make it wholly clear that this account was part of a direct effort to send a message from Chou En-Lai to the U.S. Government. This is so interesting that I think you will want to read it yourself in the British telegrams which have been provided to us.³ The first two pages of the attached give a brief summary, and there follows a long reporting telegram which is worth reading in full.

2. Dean Rusk’s first impression is that this is a relatively defensive message.⁴ My own feeling is more mixed. The basic trouble with the message is that it does not tell us at all at what point the Chinese might move in Vietnam itself in a way which would force us to act against China. And that of course is the $64 question.

McG B

1. Source: Johnson Library, National Security File, Memos to the President, McGeorge Bundy, Vol. 11. Confidential. A handwritten “L” on the source text indicates that it was seen by the President. Another handwritten notation reads: “Rec’d June 4, 1965, 11:25 a.m.”
2. The daily briefs are ibid., Intelligence Briefings.
3. Telegrams 720 and 722 from the British Embassy in Peking to the Foreign Office, May 31 and June 1. The former summarized a meeting with Foreign Minister Ch’en Yi, largely about Vietnam, in which he asked the British to deliver the message from Chou. The latter reported the portion of the meeting relating to Vietnam, including the message, in detail. Copies of the telegrams were sent to William Bundy with a June 2 covering note from British Minister of Embassy Michael N.F. Stewart, asking whether there would be any U.S. objection if the British Charge in Peking told the Chinese that the British had delivered the message. No reply to the note has been found. (Washington National Records Center, RG 330, OASD/ISA Files: FRC 70 A 3717, 092 Communist China)
4. Telegram 720 stated that Ch’en said Chou En-Lai had asked Pakistan President Ayub Khan, when he visited Peking in March, to give a message to the U.S. Government, but since Ayub’s visit to the United States had been postponed, the message might not have been delivered. Ch’en therefore asked if the British would pass on the message. The message reads as follows: “(I) China will not provoke war with United States; (II) what China says counts; (III) China is prepared; and (IV) if United States bombs China that wd mean war and there wd be no limits to the war.”