Cable from the Chinese Embassy in Pakistan, 'The Pakistani Foreign Minister’s Speech'

Copy to: Zhang, Zhang [Wenji], Ji [Pengfei], Liu, Qiao, General Office, Soviet and European Affairs Department, Asian Affairs Department, Western European Affairs Department, American and Oceanian Affairs Department, Asian and African Affairs Department, Department of International Affairs, Information Department, Personnel Office, Protocol Department, Consular Affairs Department, General Affairs Department, Research Office, Treaty Committee, Party Committee, [Meng] Yongqian, Ambassador, Ambassador Geng

From the Desk of the Ambassador to Pakistan

Priority: Extremely Urgent

Received: 10 880

22 October 1956

Already Copied To: Chairman, [Liu] Shaoqi, [Zhou] Enlai, Zhu De, Chen Yun, [Peng] Dehuai, [Deng] Xiaoping, Chen Yi, [Xi] Zhongxun, [Yang] Shangkun, [Hu] Qiaomu, [Wang] Jiaxiang, [Li] Kenong, [Lu] Dingyi, Propaganda Department of the CPC Central Committee, International Department of the CPC Central Committee, Investigation Department, Military Intelligence, Deng Tuo, Yang Gang, [Wu] Lengxi, Steering Committee, [Li] Enqiu

The Pakistani Foreign Minister’s Speech

Foreign Ministry and Ambassador Geng:

(1) At the same time that the Pakistani prime minister was paying a friendly visit to China, Pakistani Foreign Minister Noon, on the 20th and 21st in Lahore and Rawalpindi, issued an India-opposing, US-friendly speech saying:

a. India is the only nation hostile to Pakistan, and the Kashmir issue will be handed over to the [U.N.] Security Council on 1 January of next year for discussion; Pakistan can no longer implement a policy of appeasement, and if the Security Council cannot guarantee a public referendum, Pakistan intends to submit it to the United Nations General Assembly for resolution.

b. Pakistan is willing to earnestly maintain friendly relations with all the world’s countries, especially Muslim countries, but fascist Islamism should be abandoned and Pakistani Islamism adopted; “If any countries are unfriendly to Pakistan, Pakistan cannot bow its head [to them] simply because they are Muslims.”

c. Pakistan joined the Manila Treaty and the Baghdad Pact for defensive purposes, because Pakistan is a small country and there are some countries hostile to it; it is hoped that these two treaties can develop like the [North] Atlantic Treaty Organization, in which an attack on one country will be regarded as an attack on all of the member countries. It is inadvisable to discuss military treaties in Parliament, because in future this would benefit Pakistan’s enemies.

d. The reason Pakistan had refused to join the Suez Canal Users’ Association was because in the past there had been the possibility of using armed force; now that the dispute had been submitted to the Security Council for peaceful resolution, Pakistan should reconsider the issue of joining the Suez Canal Users’ Association.

e. [He] emphasized US aid to Pakistan and that Pakistan thanked the US, and also said that in the future Pakistan would accept aid provided by any country. The prime minister had already visited China; “tomorrow we may go to Russia.”

Noon’s remarks represented the opinion of the ruling circle of the Republican Party, and at the same time reflected the Pakistani government’s Janus-faced character on foreign policy; on one hand, it strongly emphasizes Pakistan’s approving stance on the military treaties, emphasized the Kashmir public referendum and also hints that it might rejoin the Suez Canal Users’ Association. On the other hand, it also states its wish to be friendly with all nations, and mentions accepting aid from any nations. To our knowledge, the US ambassador paid an official call to Mirza the day after [Pakistani Prime Minister] Suhrawardy visited China, and Noon’s talk has something to do with American pressure. The Janus-faced approach of the current administration is very natural, but determining whether Noon’s talk is part of a two-man act with Suhrawardy’s agreement beforehand, or the Republican Party trying to hold Suhrawardy back on foreign policy issues, will require further research.

(2) At the same time, Chief Minister of East Pakistan Ataur Rahman [Khan] was emphasizing that Pakistan and China’s shared ideal is world peace, and wishing that China would help [Pakistan] and advance hand-in-hand, that the friendship with China to be strengthened, and that the friendship between the people of the two nations would be developed. He said: “in the past, we stood still, looking to the West; now the sun is rising in the East, and we should look to the East.”

[Chinese] Embassy in Pakistan

22 October

Telegram received on the 22nd, 9:50 p.m. Printed on the 23rd, 10:50 a.m.