Office of the Historian

603.4193/11–551

The Second Secretary of Embassy in the United Kingdom (Marvin) to the Department of State

confidential
No. 2060
London, November 5, 1951.

Subject: Representations on Behalf of American Nationals in China.

The British Charge d’Affaires at Peiping, Mr. Lamb, reported to the Foreign Office on October 31, 1951, as follows with regard to representations on behalf of American nationals in China:

1.
The Danish Minister, after consulting with both Mr. Lamb and the Swiss Minister and obtaining their agreement, decided not to make representations on behalf of American nationals. He justified this decision on the ground that at this late stage, representations might do more harm than good.
2.
Although the Norwegian and Netherlands Charge d’Affaires both had earlier acted in connection with the representations on behalf of foreign nationals generally, they have similarly decided against separate representations on behalf of Americans.
3.
Mr. Lamb gathers, from what the Indian Embassy told the Swiss Minister, that the Soviet Ambassador did not obtain an encouraging reply from Chou En-lai to his suggestions about treatment of foreign nationals. Chou En-lai insisted that this was a question of internal security. It appears that under the circumstances there was no question [Page 1846] of an interview between the Soviet Ambassador and the chief of the security police (see Embassy’s telegram 1505, September 25, 1951).
David K. Marvin