Eisenhower Library, Eisenhower papers, Whitman file
No. 96
Prime Minister Nu to President Eisenhower1
My Dear Mr. President: On the occasion of the departure of the Burmese Delegation to the 8th Session of the United Nations where they will have to report on the presence of the Kuomintang troops in our country. I take the opportunity of sending you this letter in order that a correct perspective of the situation prevailing, and a true appreciation of Burmese feelings, may be made known to you.
I shall not reiterate in detail the events of the past beyond stating that the remnants of the Chinese Army of 1942, who managed to survive Japanese attempts at their annihilation in the outlying parts of Burma, were joined by the Chinese Army that retreated from Yunnan in 1949. They have been living on the land much to the discomfort and danger of the unfortunate inhabitants.
[Page 136]Due to clever propaganda the opinion gained ground that these people might form the nucleus of an army that would one day enter China through Yunnan. It began in this manner and much from American sources went to them. As was expected of them, they did make a foray into Yunnan in 1951 with disastrous results to themselves. Since this set-back, in order to justify their existence, they have been propagandising themselves as an army of liberation but they liberate none and these desperate men in reality trade in opium and resort to killing our nationals for their small possessions and their hard grown grain. Our women have suffered as may well be expected.
It must be apparent to all by now that, as a force to enter China, these troops can in no way be useful or be effective. All that they have achieved is to make the people of the country suffer. They have been selling the arms that have been given to them by interested parties, to the local insurgents who pay for them with the monies that they had looted from the treasuries of the Burmese Government. This trade in arms, together with their monopoly in opium have made their leaders very rich, and at the same time they are ready suppliers of arms to the insurgents.
We have been combating them but preoccupied as we are with our local insurgents we have not been able to give them the attention that would end in their liquidation. At least they could be contained in a remote sector of Burma while we battle with the insurgents, who if they are victorious, could align Burma with the Communist Bloc.
We have tried our hardest not to involve anybody in our difficulties and it was for this reason that we suffered in silence and took no action apart from approaching the American Embassy at Rangoon to exercise pressure on the authorities at Formosa. That help came but there was no result. The situation became desperate especially with a powerful neighbour who might look upon the situation as one that calls for retaliatory and defensive action. We thus had to bring the matter to the United Nations.
As a member country of the United Nations, dedicated to peace, we bowed to the will of the majority and prayed hard that some measure of relief would emerge. Talks have taken place at Bangkok and much help has been received from the American and Thai representatives as well as from the American Ambassadors at Taipei, Bangkok and Rangoon, for which I express the thanks of the Burmese people. However, as times goes on, we are forced to the conclusion that the Chinese are not sincere, and even if they had some vague intention of carrying out the decision of the United Nations at the outset, the position for them has changed [Page 137] after the precedent created by Mr. Syngman Rhee2 in Korea. The Burmese are now forced to adopt the belief that Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek will drive as hard a bargain as Mr. Rhee.
My personal belief which is shared by many, is that, left to the United Nations and to governments, no satisfactory solution will result. I cannot help but feel that your personal intervention would make the chances of success far greater and I therefore request your help in order that the matter may be settled in the course of the present session of the United Nations.
Eminent American nationals have come to Burma and I have no doubt that you have received reports about this country from them. We have no secret pacts or secret understandings with any country and our policy is to avoid involvement. Our greatest task has been the fight against the spread of communism in our own country. You will perhaps recall that at one stage in our short life as an independent nation, we were almost written off by the democracies as pseudo communists or fellow-travellers. Perhaps at that time there was justification for the view but since then we have travelled far and we have battled against the tendency even to lean towards communism, and we feel gratified that in our own way we have combatted it and that today we are on much firmer ground, away from the morass of communism. And we continue to fight the good fight, in our own way, to be entirely rid of the danger. It would indeed be lamentable if because of our necessity to repel the Kuomintang invader, we must lessen our vigilance against the spread of the far greater danger.
We emerged as an independent nation in 1948 with the goodwill of all countries including that of the United States of America. Our relationship has been cordial and the help rendered to us by your great country has been immense. It is a matter of deep regret to us that we had to terminate the aid agreement which was of the greatest material benefit towards the rehabilitation of our war-devastated country, but such termination was compelled by the need to combat the insidious propaganda that we could not complain about the presence of Kuomintang troops because of the acceptance of American aid. The suggestion, to intelligent people, was fantastic, but unfortunately intelligent people everywhere are in a minority, and thus we had to adopt the extreme course of declining the aid solely in order to show to the masses that our conscience is clear and our hands clean. The greatest difficulty we encounter is to meet the argument that the Chinese are defying the United Nations as well as world opinion because the United States of America does not wish them really to leave Burma. The average Burmese [Page 138] knows only that the government at Formosa cannot exist without American aid, and thus he cannot understand why Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek can defy the United States of America, and he therefore concludes readily that attempts at evacuation are all sham. The battle among ourselves has been hard; feelings have been embittered, and at one stage to forestall and neutralise communist propaganda we were nearly forced to seek a non-aggression pact with our powerful neighbour but happily, wiser counsel prevailed.
We realise the difficulties involved in the repatriation of these K.M.T. troops but we cannot help but feel that real strong action on the part of the United States of America would bring about a solution, and because of this belief I appeal to you as a God fearing and righteous man, and as one who can and has contributed much to the preservation of world peace, to use your good influence that would make these unwanted people leave our country and thereby gain the gratitude of a long suffering people.
With my greetings,
Yours sincerely,
- This letter was brought to the United States by U Myint Thein, Justice of the Burma Supreme Court and head of Burma’s Delegation to the forthcoming session of the U.N. General Assembly, and handed to Assistant Secretary Robertson by Ambassador Barrington. A copy is filed with a memorandum from Secretary Dulles to the President, Sept. 28. (690B.9321/9–2253)↩
- President of the Republic of Korea.↩
- Maung is a Burmese prefix, here used by Nu as a Courtesy.↩