1. Memorandum From Zbigniew Brzezinski, Richard Gardner, and Henry Owen to President-Elect Carter1
[Omitted here is material unrelated to Sino-American relations.]
C. China:
1. Initial contacts: A meeting between Secretary of State and the Chinese Foreign Minister should be proposed, to sound out Chinese willingness to offer assurances of non-use of force in the Taiwan Straits as a prelude to normalization. After these soundings, a decision can be made as to whether to propose a meeting at a mutually convenient time, this time on U.S. soil (though conceivably in the Pacific), between you and Chairman Hua. The above should be preceded by consultations with Japan, as suggested earlier.
2. Taiwan: U.S. forces in Taiwan should be further reduced, making clear that this in no way reduces the U.S. commitment to Taiwan’s security.
[Omitted here is material unrelated to Sino-American relations.]
- Source: Carter Library, National Security Affairs, Staff Material, Far East, Oksenberg Subject File, Box 26, Brzezinski: 1–6/77. Confidential. Inderfurth sent a copy of this memorandum to the NSC Staff under a covering letter dated January 19, 1977. (Ibid.)↩