793.00/10–1054
No. 335
Memorandum of Conversation, by the
Secretary of State1
I told Sir Robert Scott that I had understood that Mr. Eden was concerned about a possible raiding of the China mainland from Formosa. I told him that I thought he should know in the strictest confidence that at the time that we turned over jet planes to the National forces it was understood that they would not be used against the mainland unless there were what we recongnized to be unusual and compelling reasons for such action. At the time when the Communist assault on Quemoy had begun, the Chinese Nationalists had not used their air power against the Communist positions of assault without first communicating with us and waiting for two or three days to get United States acquiescence in the proposition that the assault from the mainland and neighboring Communist island positions justified using the ChiNats Air Force to attack these positions. I further said that when I had seen the Generalissimo at Formosa, he had reaffirmed their intention to cooperate fully with the United States in these respects. While, of course, I could not myself give any assurances, I did feel that it was reasonable to expect that there would be no reckless or wanton bombing of the mainland from Formosa.
Sir Robert Scott thanked me for this information, which he thought was very pertinent to the other matters which we were currently discussing.
- Drafted by Dulles. A heading on the source text states that the conversation took place on Saturday, Oct. 9, at the Secretary’s residence.↩