certain problems of common concern. These included the matter of
release of American civilians imprisoned in Communist China, and such
questions as the renunciation of force in the Formosa area. There have
been 73 meetings since August 1955.

When our Ambassador, who was conducting these negotiations, was
recently transferred to another post, we named as successor Mr. [Jacob
D.] Beam, our Ambassador to Poland. The Chinese Communists were
notified accordingly the latter part of July, but there was no
response.

The Secretary of State, in his September 4th statement, referred to
these Geneva negotiations. Two days later, Mr. Chou En-lai, the
Premier of the People's Republic of China, proposed that these talks
should be resumed "in the interests of peace." This was followed up on
September 8th by Mr. Mao Tse-tung, the Chairman of the People's
Republic of China. We promptly welcomed this prospect and instructed
our Ambassador at Warsaw to be ready immediately to resume these
talks. We expect that the talks will begin upon the return to Warsaw
of the Chinese Communist Ambassador, who has been in Peiping.

Perhaps our suggestion may be bearing fruit. We devoutly hope so.

Naturally, the United States will adhere to the position it first took
in 1955, that we will not in these talks be a party to any
arrangements which would prejudice rights of our ally, the Republic of
China.

We know by hard experiences that the Chinese Communist leaders are
indeed militant and aggressive. But we cannot believe that they would