Foreign Relations of the United States, 1952–1954, China and Japan, Volume XIV, Part 1

FE files, lot 55 D 480, “Communist China”

No. 191
Memorandum by the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Far Eastern Affairs (Drumright) to the Deputy Under Secretary of State (Murphy)

confidential

[Washington,] May 17, 1954.

Subject:

• Certain Mainland Chinese Prevented from Departing From the United States.

Problem

United States administrative restrictions against the departure from this country of certain technically trained Chinese for Communist China are now believed to constitute a handicap in our efforts at Geneva to effect the release of Americans held in Communist China. Messages indicating this are attached as Tabs B, C and D.¹ Justice and Defense insist that no re-screening looking toward release of the Chinese will be undertaken unless the Department will promise to use the Chinese to bargain for the release of the Americans held in China on a strictly quid pro quo basis. FE is opposed to any such specific commitment by the Department and wishes Justice and Defense to proceed at once with the detailed survey necessary to establish the number of Chinese who wish to leave, and who can safely be allowed to depart. FE believes that it is not within the sphere of other Government Departments to dictate our diplomatic negotiating tactics.

Summary Discussion (Detailed discussion attached as Appendix A)²

The Department of Justice action was taken beginning in late 1950 on a temporary basis. In April 1952 the Interdepartmental Committee on Internal Security recommended that the Research and Development Board of the Department of Defense decide which of the prospective detainees possessed training which made their departure dangerous to United States security. A net total of 120 were detained under this procedure and are still in this country. However, it now seems that very few if any of these Chinese are of such unusual scientific or technical stature that their work in Communist China would prejudice the security of the United States.

The Department is under urgent obligation, as well as strong, continuous pressure from relatives, friends, church organizations, the press and Congress to bring about the release of Americans held against their will in Communist China, some of whom have been in jail for three or four years. Thus far repeated diplomatic efforts to assist the detained Americans have not yielded direct results. It is felt that the United States detention of Chinese constitutes a serious handicap in dealing with the Communists for the release of the Americans. It gives a semblance of plausibility to the Chinese Communists contention that we are holding Chinese nationals without legal sanction and are guilty of the offense which we charge to them. The attitude of the Attorney General, who was consulted personally after the ICIS last week approved a re-examination of the criteria for holding the Chinese, was that he could not cooperate in the necessary procedures unless the Department declared it would agree that its policy was that no Chinese would be released except in direct exchange for Americans, and furthermore ascertain from the Chinese Communists that they are disposed to bargain on this basis. Thus he is introducing a new consideration unrelated to the original legal basis for holding these Chinese.

While some sort of barter proposal is remotely possible, the delegation at Geneva obviously cannot be tied down in advance to negotiate on such a basis only. It is dubious morally and legally, unnecessarily restricts the operations of our delegation which is already handicapped in dealing with this issue, and might worsen rather than improve the prospects of the detained Americans.

Recommendation

That the Attorney General and the Acting Secretary of Defense be requested by telephone to approve and expedite the recommended reexamination of the Chinese detainees, without prescribing conditions as to the Department’s use of these detainees in its negotiations for the release of the detained Americans.³

1. None attached to the source text, but listed as Sectos 88, 104, and 233. The first two are cited in footnote 1, Document 189; Secto 233 from Geneva, May 17, in file 396.1 GE/5–1754.
2. Not printed.
3. A letter of May 28 from Murphy to Attorney General Herbert Brownell, Jr., requested that the Department of Justice reexamine the records of the detained Chinese and that the Immigration and Naturalization Service conduct a survey to determine which of them still wished to return to China. The letter has not been found in Department of State files but is cited in a letter of June 2 from Assistant Attorney General Warren Olney III to Murphy stating that the reexamination and survey were both under way. (211.9311/6–254)