893.00B/6–649: Telegram
The Minister-Counselor Embassy in China (Clark) to the Secretary of State
[Received 3:24 p. m.]
Cantel 534. Believe we should be most suspicious Chou En-lai démarche (Peiping’s 917, June 1, repeated Nanking 600, Canton 138). Move smacks much more of tactics than strategy. What more natural than Communists’ endeavors convince us bickering exists in their ranks and that Soviet tie is not binding. How fatal for us to permit ourselves be enticed into assisting Communists in their desperate need only to discover too late that they wanted our help solely during interim and until they could get along without us. Believe Chou should be encouraged but that we should move warily.
Sent Department Cantel 534; repeated Nanking 362, Peiping 10.