294. Telegram From the Ambassador in Egypt (Byroade) to the Department of State1
60. Eyes only for the Secretary. Prime Minister Nehru is today in Cairo en route Delhi. I have just been requested by Indian Ambassador here to transmit the following message from Nehru to President Eisenhower. Text follows:
“My Dear Mr. President.
I am grateful to you for your letter2 which was handed to me by your Chargé d’Affaires in Rome three days ago. I much appreciate this cordial message and I am glad that the talks Krishna Menon had with you and with Secretary Dulles served a useful purpose. I am now on my way back to India and I hope to send you a fuller reply from Delhi.
There is one point, however, to which I would venture to draw your attention. You have been good enough to inform me that you and Secretary Dulles are thinking of appointing a designated Ambassador of the United States to meet at Geneva with a representative of the Chinese Communist regime of comparable rank with a view to dealing, in the first instance, with the question of citizens of each of the two countries in the territory of the other who want to return. As you have stated, this topic has already been discussed at Geneva at the consular level. But the results so far obtained have been meagre. It would certainly be better for these discussions to take place at a higher level. But it is doubtful if any further results are likely to be obtained by merely raising the status of the representatives on either side. It has been the hope and the intention of your government, as of other governments, to lessen tension in the Far East progressively so that this might lead to a better atmosphere for negotiations in some form or other. Fortunately there has been a lull in the Far East and practically a cease-fire. To take advantage of this position and to further it in the right direction, I would venture to suggest that some further step is desirable.
Premier Chou En-lai mentioned to us some little time ago that negotiations through diplomatic representatives as at Geneva had [Page 645] served little purpose. It would not be helpful if he is led to believe that nothing further is intended now than raise the status of diplomatic representatives at Geneva and to discuss only the question of detained nationals. The possible further progress to which you have referred in your letter might actually be impeded.
You have referred to certain limitations under which discussions should take place. I would submit that even within those limitations it might be possible to discuss other issues. I am not suggesting that any solution will be found at this stage by these talks. But you will no doubt agree that it is important to maintain, if not to improve, the present lower tensions in the Far East and thus prevent a conflict arising in respect of the coastal islands.
Because of the apprehension I feel in this matter, I am taking the liberty of drawing your attention to this aspect in the hope that this whole matter will receive further and fuller consideration by you before any definite step is taken.
Thanking you again and with my regards, I am, Mr. President, Sincerely yours, Jawaharlal Nehru”.
Original of message being pouched Department.3
- Source: Department of State, Central Files, 611.93/7–1155. Top Secret; Priority. According to a handwritten notation by Goodpaster, a copy was seen by the President on July 12. (Eisenhower Library, Whitman File, International Series)↩
- Transmitted in Document 289.↩
- Filed with the copy in the Eisenhower Library cited in footnote 1 above.↩