August 19, 1955
Cable from the Chinese Foreign Ministry to Wang Bingnan, 'Instructions for the Ninth Meeting'
This document was made possible with support from MacArthur Foundation
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[To] Ambassador Wang Bingnan:
[We] have received your report on the 8th meeting and the speech of the other party.
1. [We] agree with your assessment in general. The objective, which the other side attempts to achieve on Agenda I, is that we promise to release all American nationals in China. Only with the evolution of the talks did [the US] propose divergent formulations. Regarding the first item in the agreed announcement, we have made our greatest efforts and cannot make further concessions. Meanwhile, in view of the misperception of the other side that we are eager to reach an accord, we should be resolute at the ninth meeting and vigorously criticize various arguments from the other side. At the ninth meeting, let the other side speak first. If the other party declines to speak first then we will speak first. We will send you the text of the speech soon. If the other side repeats what he said at the eighth meeting, we should refuse to yield an inch and struggle against him.
2. To coordinate with your struggle at the meeting, Xinhua News Agency has started to publish articles on how our students were prevented from leaving the US and [were] persecuted. We are going to strike back against the US counter-propaganda on the eleven released convicted US nationals. We will send these materials to you for your reference once they are published.
3. As to making the talk public, it is not suitable to raise this issue. Please wait and see.
Foreign Ministry
24:00, 19 August [1955]
The Foreign Ministry agreed with Wang’s observation that the US thought that China was very eager to reach an agreement and thus took advantage of it. The US’s purpose was to have China promise unambiguously that all American citizens would be released soon. The Foreign Ministry instructed Wang to stand firm in the next meeting and not to yield as China had already make necessary concession.
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