381. Letter From the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Kissinger) to Foreign Minister Schumann 1
Dear Maurice:
I am writing you about the sale of integrated circuit production equipment to Poland to which you refer in your letter of February 29.2 After having given the most careful consideration to the issues connected with this export, the President on March 29 directed the Department of State to lift our previous objection to it.3
In making this decision, the President believes that the sale should not be finally concluded until there have been received assurances from the Poles that they will not transfer the technology obtained from this equipment to other communist countries, that they will not export the finished circuits to such countries without prior authorization, and that the finished circuits will be for peaceful end-uses only. We hope furthermore that your Government will continue to support our common effort to deny the export of integrated circuit manufacturing capability to other communist countries.
You will appreciate, I am sure, that the President reached this decision only after the extensive and meticulous deliberations appropriate to the complexity of the issues involved.
Warm regards,
- Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Country Files-Europe, Box 678, France, Volume IX 1/72-7/72. No classification marking.↩
- A copy of Schumann’s February 29 letter is attached to Sonnenfeldt’s March 29 memorandum to Kissinger; see Document 379. In his letter Schumann recalled having taken up the French proposal with Secretary Rogers during the Azores Summit, and reviewed U.S.-French interaction on the issue since then. See also footnote 5, Document 377.↩
- See Document 380.↩