795.00/3–2853
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Far Eastern Affairs (Johnson)1
Subject:
- Communist Offer to Exchange Sick and Wounded
Participants:
- F. S. Tomlinson—Counselor, British Embassy
- F. R. MacGinnis—Second Secretary, British Embassy
- U. Alexis Johnson—Deputy Assistant Secretary of State
Mr. Tomlinson came in at his request and gave me to read a personal telegram from Foreign Secretary Eden, the substance of which read as follows:
. . . . . . .
Mr. Tomlinson stated that this message apparently crossed the message which the Embassy had sent this morning after discussion over the telephone with me. That message had informed the Foreign Office of the general public position that we were taking and that Clark was immediately initiating necessary action to carry out the exchange of sick and wounded.
I gave to Mr. Tomlinson the text of the Secretary’s statement of today’s date on this subject2 and Mr. Tomlinson agreed that the line we were taking appeared to be fully consistent with the last paragraph of Mr. Eden’s message.
I stated that it seemed to me entirely too early to reach any decision on what our attitude should be toward resumption of negotiations. I pointed out the obscurity of the Communist letter as to whether they were linking the two questions. I said that if their purpose were merely to use the bait of exchange of sick and wounded to hook us to resuming negotiations without any further indication than we now have of any change of attitude on their part, I thought we should not be caught. If, on the other hand, they were quickly forthcoming on exchange of sick and wounded, it would put a somewhat different light on the resumption of negotiations. I said that as soon as the liaison officers had met regarding the exchange of sick and wounded, we should be obtaining some indication of what the Communist attitude was going to be. Therefore I did not think that we could or should now attempt to reach any firm decision on resumption of negotiations and that I would undertake to keep the Embassy informed of further developments. I pointed out to Mr. Tomlinson that we must guard against the Communists coming out with some purely symbolic offer of UNC sick and wounded in the background for the inclusion of the phrase “impartial verification” in our February 22 letter to the Communists.
Mr. Tomlinson asked that the Embassy be kept informed of any developments with regard to our decisions on resumption of negotiations. I replied that, as I had previously pointed out, I did not foresee that the decision was imminent over the weekend on this question but that I was sure that we would, as we have in the past, continue to keep them fully informed.