793.54/7–3150
The Secretary of State to the Secretary of Defense (Johnson)
My Dear Mr. Secretary: This refers to your letter to me of July 29, 1950 regarding photographic reconnaissance over the coastal area of China,1 I am informed that Assistant Secretary Rusk has informed your representatives that the Department of State has not thus far imposed any restrictions upon U.S. reconnaissance along the China coast and that present limitations were military in origin.
The Department of State desires to facilitate as much as possible the carrying out of the onerous mission now assigned to the U.S. Seventh Fleet concerning Formosa. You will recall that our two Departments recently agreed upon a reply to the Chinese Government concerning Chinese reconnaissance which seemed to offer considerable flexibility to the reconnaissance required by them for the defense of Formosa. The text of that reply follows:
“The United States Government would not stand in the way of air and naval reconnaissance by the Chinese Government, provided such reconnaissance did not involve armed offensive action against the mainland.”2
As far as U.S. reconnaissance is concerned, we believe that some caution is required in order not to create hostilities with the China [Page 405] mainland, nor to widen the conflict in Korea, nor to place us at an even greater international political disadvantage on the sensitive subject of Formosa, We concur in reconnaissance along the China coast but strongly urge that it be conducted to the maximum extent possible from outside Chinese territorial waters. We recognize that this limitation is difficult to apply along a complex coast line such as that of eastern China and that the possibility of incident or error would accompany such reconnaissance. We believe it important, however, not to give the authorities on the mainland the impression that we are making a serious attempt to penetrate the mainland itself by U.S. military aircraft. We assume, therefore, that reconnaissance along the coast would be limited to that and would not include areas away from the sea where there would be no doubt about a serious infringement of the mainland.
From the foreign policy point of view, it would be desirable for such reconnaissance to be accomplished where possible by fast single planes which, while authorized to defend themselves, would attempt to evade an attack wherever possible. Similarly, reconnaissance by formations of aircraft over mainland territory would create very serious political problems and would subject us to charges which it would be exceedingly difficult to meet.
I recognize the difficulty of reconciling the reconnaissance which would be desirable from a military point of view with international political considerations. If what has been said above does not afford an adequate basis for instructions to the field, I suggest that General Burns and Mr. Matthews or Mr. Rusk be asked to consult immediately about further clarification.
Sincerely yours,