335. Memorandum From Alfred Jenkins of the National Security Council Staff to the President’s Special Assistant (Rostow)1
SUBJECT
- Peking’s Foreign Policy
The attached Research Memorandum2 concerning Peking’s foreign policy and especially regarding its attitude toward the United States is a very competent elaboration of the obvious—resulting in entirely appropriate inconclusiveness. In other words, it is obvious that very little indeed is obvious about the policy debate concerning Sino-U.S. relations which must be going on in Peking.
I cannot bring myself to believe that Peking’s communications with us concerning the February 20 meeting constitute much of an invitation for rapprochement. It probably is something of a signal of readiness to listen to any interesting change in our own policy, which the new administration may see fit to bring forth. I am knitting brows with EA on this, but I suppose no one can go very far just now. I think our object should be to work out some sort of modest trial balloon with safety devices. With so little yet resolved in Peking, I do not think we can expect any constructive moves toward us from that quarter. All we can do is, at a minimum, somewhat exacerbate the policy struggle, and, at a maximum, provide a bit of ammunition for those who may be somewhat less inimical to us than the full-fledged Maoists.
- Source: Johnson Library, National Security File, Country File—Addendum, China. Secret.↩
- The attachment, a December 23 memorandum from Hughes to Rusk (Research Memorandum REA–39), is not printed.↩