280. Action Memorandum From the Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs (Bundy) to Acting Secretary of State Katzenbach1
SUBJECT
- Licensing of Pharmaceuticals for Sale to Communist China
1. On April 6, 1967 you spoke to the President about the licensing of certain pharmaceuticals and related medical equipment to Communist China for use in the treatment or prevention of spinal meningitis, cholera, and infectious hepatitis, diseases that were in or threatening to reach epidemic stage in mainland China at the time. The President authorized the licensing of these items but only for the duration of the epidemics.
2. Our information is that these diseases have run their course as epidemics. However, no American firm was ever approached by the Chinese Communists for the sale of any drugs during the period of the epidemics. I believe a publicized action to rescind the move to permit licensing would be viewed by an articulate segment of the American public as a step backward and contrary to the President’s stated policy of concern for the people of mainland China. I believe, therefore, that no public statement and no approach to American pharmaceutical firms should be made at this time but rather, in the unlikely event that an American firm should receive a request from the Chinese Communists, [Page 598] we act on each request in the context of the general situation obtaining at the time.
Recommendation:
3. That you inform the President that the epidemics that caused us to act on this matter have run their course and recommend that, despite this fact, we take no action to announce the termination of the temporary relaxation of our embargo on trade with China to permit the licensing of drugs and medical equipment useful in treating or preventing those epidemics and will, as a practical matter, deal with cases, if they arise, on their merits.2