314. Report Prepared in the Bureau of Intelligence and Research1
(U) CHINESE AND US OBJECTIVES IN SOUTHWEST ASIA
Summary
(C) China and the US have some common objectives in Southwest Asia, the most important of which is coordination of international efforts to oppose Soviet actions in Afghanistan and prevent further destabilization of the area. During recent months Beijing has consulted extensively with Washington on the Southwest Asian situation, and Washington has expressed support for certain Chinese policies. The US has agreed, for example, that the Chinese should encourage Pakistan and Iran to coordinate their efforts to oppose the Soviet presence in Afghanistan. It has also agreed with Beijing’s attempts to improve ties with New Delhi and advise Southwest Asian states to compose their differences and move toward regional security cooperation.
(S) But China displays a considerably more confrontationist style toward the Soviet Union than does the United States. Beijing has pressed the US in recent months to adopt policies, such as security guarantees to Pakistan and military support to the Afghan resistance, that Washington considers unwise. Other differences are evident between Chinese and US policy perspectives. For example, Beijing has made clear that its confidence in US perceptiveness and resolve is low and that China fears that US action in Iran, or inaction in Afghanistan, will encourage Soviet aggression.
(S) Thus, despite China’s statements that it is willing to take parallel actions in Southwest Asia when Sino-US views are identical, as a practical matter it has been careful to avoid too close an identification with even those US policies it fully supports.
(C) The US has preferred to pursue Sino-US cooperation in the form of agreements and mutual consultation rather than by joint action. Indeed, owing to differing views of the Soviet Union and to China’s emergence as a regional power, the confluence of Chinese and American objectives in Southwest Asia could prove to be a temporary phenomenon.
[Omitted here is the body of the report.]
- Source: Department of State, Bureau of Intelligence and Research, Subject Files, Lot 90D328, Box 1, China-U.S. Relations. Secret; Exdis; Not Releasable to Foreign Nationals: Not Releasable to Contractors or Contractor Consultants; Dissemination and Extraction of Information Controlled by Originator; [additional handling restriction not declassified]. Drafted by Lillian Harris (INR) and approved by Carol Baumann (INR).↩