811.91293/8–945: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in China (Hurley)
1277. With regard to the cases of Berrigan and Isaacs (Urtel 1310) the Department wishes to be informed of the basis for the charge that, outside the field of their journalistic functions, “they were pursuing a course which endangered the military collaboration between China and the United States and openly seeking to undermine the authority of the Government of China”. Please request Chinese Government to supply in detail the evidence upon which this serious charge is based.
For your information Department does not feel that it should be party to or even an intermediary in obtaining agreement of Newsweek and New York Post to the restrictions imposed on them by the Chinese Government as conditions precedent to furnishing those publishers with copies of the Chinese Government’s memorandum. Consequently no copies have been supplied to the publishers but the Department will of course eventually have to give the publishers an explanation of the reasons given for the position taken by the Chinese Government.