57. Memorandum From the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Kissinger) to President Nixon1
SUBJECT
- Prime Minister Sato’s Reply to Your Letter on Economic Aid to Cambodia
Prime Minister Sato has replied to your letter of August 262 which requested that he give personal attention to the matter of economic aid to Cambodia.
Sato states that he is watching Cambodian developments with great personal concern. He confirms that the Japanese Government has decided to provide an additional $2 million of emergency assistance in the form of trucks and other commodities and will provide $300 thousand for relief of Vietnamese refugees from Cambodia.
Sato also states that he hopes to contribute to the stabilization and rehabilitation of the Indochina area by continuing close cooperation with the U.S. He concludes by noting that “he is anxiously looking forward to meeting you” in the course of his presence in the U.S. for the UNGA.
Our Embassy at Tokyo reported that the Foreign Ministry believed your letter to Sato had arrived at just the right time to affect Japanese [Page 161] consideration of the additional assistance to Cambodia referred to in Sato’s letter.
- Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Box 757, Presidential Correspondence File 1969–1974, Japan, (Sato Corr) 1969–8 July 1972. Sent for information. Confidential. Stamped notations on the memorandum indicate that Nixon saw it on October 23. Holdridge sent this memorandum to Kissinger on October 6, recommending that Kissinger sign it and send it to the President.↩
- Document 51.↩