130. Memorandum From Winston Lord of the National Security Staff to the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Kissinger), Washington, June 3, 19721 2
ACTION
June 3, 1972
MEMORANDUM FOR:
- HENRY A. KISSINGER
FROM:
- WINSTON LORD
SUBJECT:
- My New York Meeting this Morning
Following are brief highlights of my 45-minute session this morning with Ambassador Huang, which I already relayed to Dick Kennedy.
Your trip to the PRC
After I had finished my presentation on the Moscow summit, Ambassador Huang read the following message from a typed note:
“We agree to Dr. Kissinger’s visit from June 21 to June 25, but there is another important visit to China beginning June 24 which cannot be put off. In order to avoid the two meetings affecting each other we suggest that Dr. Kissinger put his visit two days forward, to 19-23 June, and we hope he will agree to it.
As to the time of the announcement we have agreed to your proposal that the trip be announced June 13 at 11:00 a.m. Washington time, 11:00 p.m. Peking time.
As to the content of the announcement, we suggest that it would be better to be shorter, so we now make a proposal for your views.”
He handed over the text at Tab A. Our suggested text is at Tab B. In addition to date change and shortening of the reference to the Shanghai communique, the major change in the Chinese text is to say that you will talk with “Chinese leaders” without mentioning specifically Prime Minister Chou En-lai as we did in our text, (Note: Last October’s announcement did not mention Chou, but rather “talks with the Chinese Government.”) I told the Ambassador that I would relay this information to you and that we would respond as soon as possible concerning the date and the text of the announcement. As for the day of the announcement, I pointed out [Page 2] that I had told Mrs. Shih the previous day that we now preferred June 14. I said that I would check this with you again in the context of the changed dates that they were proposing.
Moscow Summit
I read my talking points to Ambassador Huang who listened with impassive interest. The only question he asked was whether the U.S. and the Soviet Union were prepared to discuss further the problem of chemical weapons. I replied that, as the communique stated, we were prepared to do so, in the multilateral forum.
Miscellaneous
I noted that your Japan trip was being announced today and that it was a couple of days later than you had indicated to him. I also said that we were pleased that arrangements were going forward smoothly on the Boggs/Ford trip to the PRC; and I briefly explained and handed over Joe Alsop’s letter to you (Tab C).
The Ambassador and Mrs. Shih were very cordial throughout. He had no other questions or subjects to raise. I started to leave on two occasions but he beckoned me to stay for more tea.
RECOMMENDATION
That I phone Mrs. Shih with information on your PRC trip.
1. New dates
June 19-23 Okay _____
We prefer original dates _____
Other _____
2. Text of the announcement
Their text Okay _____
Their text Okay with following changes _____
3. Date of announcement
We still prefer June 14 _____ June 13 is Okay _____ Other _____
- Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Box 849, President’s File-China Trip, China Exchanges, March 1, 1972-June 24, 1972. Top Secret; Sensitive; Exclusively Eyes Only. Sent for action. Attached but not published at Tab A is the Chinese text. Attached but not published at Tab B is the American version. Attached but not published at Tab C is the Alsop letter to Kissinger.↩
- Lord reported that the Chinese had requested that Kissinger pay an earlier visit to China. Chinese Ambassador to the UN Huang Hua also asked about the Moscow summit, and Lord reminded Huang Hua of Kissinger’s upcoming visit to Japan.↩