Foreign Relations of the United States, 1951, Korea and China, Volume VII, Part 2

Secretary’s Memoranda: Lot 53 D 444

Memorandum of Conversation, by Ambassador David M. Key, Adviser to the United States Delegation to the United Nations General Assembly

confidential

[Paris,] November 19, 1951.

Subject: Sino-Soviet Item

Participants:	The Secretary of State
	Dr. T. F. Tsiang

Dr. T. F. Tsiang called by appointment on the Secretary at 5:30 on the afternoon of November 17.

Dr. Tsiang explained at the outset that the purpose of his call was to enlist American support of the Chinese resolution condemning the USSR for violation of the Sino-Soviet Treaty of 1945.¹

After briefly reviewing the history of this resolution from the time it was first presented to the Fourth Session of the General Assembly up to the present, Dr. Tsiang stated he realized that the objectives sought in certain sections of the resolution had either already been partially achieved or, as in the case of the third paragraph of the substantive part of the resolution in which non-recognition of the Peiping regime was recommended, it would be impossible for a number of states which had already recognized the Chinese Communist regime to support this part of the resolution. For these reasons, Dr. Tsiang felt that, from a practical viewpoint, it would be wise to concentrate on the first part of the substantive section which in essence calls for a “moral condemnation” of the USSR for having violated the Sino-Soviet pact of 1945 and the UN Charter. Dr. Tsiang claimed that his government could produce ample proof and evidence of Soviet violations of the pact.

The Secretary agreed as to the advisability of dropping sections 2, 3 and 4 from the substantive part of the resolution for the reasons already given by Dr. Tsiang. With respect to Part 1, the Secretary underlined the fundamental importance of furnishing convincing evidence of Soviet violations of the pact, pointing out that the General Assembly could not very well be expected to take action solely on the basis of unsupported charges. If satisfactory evidence were forthcoming, the American Delegation would support a revised resolution along the lines proposed by Dr. Tsiang.

In order that Dr. Tsiang could keep the U.S. Delegation informed of further developments, it was agreed that Ambassador Key should place him in touch with those members of the Delegation principally concerned with the Sino-Soviet item.

Note

Following his interview with the Secretary, Dr. Tsiang observed to Ambassador Key that while personally he was convinced that the only way in which to obtain effective support from the General Assembly for the resolution was to eliminate from the latter all but section 1 and to “forget” about the other sections, he was experiencing considerable difficulty in bringing around certain members of his delegation to this viewpoint, some of whom were clinging stubbornly to the idea that the original resolution should remain unaltered. He felt that his talk with the Secretary would strengthen his hands in dealing with these “die hards”.²

1. The Chinese resolution had been originally put forward at the Fourth Session of the U.N. General Assembly in 1949; it declared that the USSR had, by aiding the Chinese Communists, violated the U.N. Charter and the Sino-Soviet Treaty of August 14, 1945, and it urged all member states to avoid giving the Chinese Communists any military or economic aid, to withhold recognition from the Communist regime, and to respect the political independence and territorial and administrative integrity of China. For the text of the original resolution, together with related documentation, see Foreign Relations, 1949, vol. ii, pp. 144 ff. On December 8, 1949, the General Assembly referred the item to its Interim Committee for study; on December 1, 1950, the Assembly instructed the Interim Committee to continue inquiry on the question. On November 13, 1951, the Assembly decided to include the item in the agenda of its Sixth Session and referred the item to the First Committee for consideration and report.
2. At the 502d meeting of the First Committee on January 26, 1952, the Chinese Representative submitted a draft resolution whereby the General Assembly would determine that the USSR had violated the Sino-Soviet Treaty of August 14, 1945; no recommendations for action by member states were included. At the 506th meeting on January 29, the Chinese draft resolution, as modified by an amendment submitted by the Thai Representative, was adopted by 24 votes to 9, with 25 abstentions; for text of the resolution as approved by the First Committee, together with the text of the Chinese draft resolution, see U.N. document A/2098. On February 1, 1952, at its 369th plenary meeting, the General Assembly adopted the resolution submitted by the First Committee as Resolution 505 (VI); for the text, see United Nations, Official Records of the General Assembly, Sixth Session, Resolutions (A/2119), p. 4.