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

790.00/7–1754: Telegram

No. 233
The Ambassador in India (Allen) to the Department of State¹

secret

New Delhi, July 17, 1954—5 p.m.

69. Justice Douglas² had two-hour talk with Nehru at lunch yesterday. He tells me Nehru spoke at length re Chou En-lai visit.³ Nehru says he pointed out to Chou that both India and China were believed by some of their smaller neighbors to have imperialist ambitions, citing Ceylon’s concern over Indian intentions and Burma’s uncertainty regarding Communist infiltration. Chou is said to have answered that both India and China must take active steps to overcome this apprehension. As regards Burma, Chou assured Nehru he would calm fears in Rangoon.⁴

Nehru said he telegraphed foregoing to U Nu, suggesting latter express GOB concern direct to Chou when latter arrived in Rangoon. According to Nehru, U Nu did this, and received categorical assurance that Peking would not interfere in internal Burmese affairs. Chou is stated to have gone further and declared his government would soon issue public statement advising all Chinese living outside China to become loyal citizens of country in which they reside. If they could not become citizens and remained Chinese, they should not engage in politics. U Nu is said to have suggested that statement along foregoing lines be included in joint communiqué to be issued by him and Chou at termination of latter’s visit to Burma. Chou objected on grounds that formal statement would have to be made by government in Peking but he repeated assurances that this would be done.

Nehru expressed confidence to Douglas that if cease-fire is achieved at Geneva, Chinese Communists will spend next ten or fifteen years in building up their own country. Nehru did not wish to predict what policy Peking might follow after that.

Douglas asked Nehru whether any differences existed between India and China. Nehru said only difference was over exact location of Northern frontier but Indian sentry posts were established along McMahon line⁵ and he was not prepared to discuss subject, which did not come up during his talks with Chou.

Allen

1. Repeated for information to London, Paris, and Rangoon.
2. Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas.
3. Chinese Premier Chou En-lai visited India for 3 days in late June 1954; the text of a communiqué issued on June 28, 1954, at the conclusion of his talks with Prime Minister Nehru, may be found in Documents on International Affairs, 1954 (issued under the auspices of the Royal Institute of International Affairs, London, Oxford University Press, 1957), pp. 313–314.
4. Chou visited Burma for 2 days following his visit to India; the text of a joint statement which he and Burmese Prime Minister U Nu issued on June 29 is printed in Documents on International Affairs, 1954, pp. 314–315.
5. The McMahon Line was the frontier between India and Tibet defined in the Simla Convention, initialed on July 3, 1914, by representatives of the United Kingdom, China, and Tibet, but never signed or ratified by China; the text of the Simla Convention is printed in Tibet and the Chinese People’s Republic: A Report to the International Commission of Jurists by Its Legal Inquiry Committee on Tibet (International Commission of Jurists, Geneva, 1960), pp. 330–333.