PRC FOREIGN MINISTRY STATEMENT ATTACKS U.S. ON VIETNAM BOMBINGS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: Library of Congress
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): LOC-HAK-451-4-4-2
• Release Decision: RIFLIM
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: January 11, 2017
• Document Release Date: December 22, 2009
• Sequence Number: 4
• Publication Date: June 12, 1972
• Content Type: MEMO

No Objection to Declassification in Full 2009/12/22: LOC-HAK-451-4-4-2
NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL
FORMATION
TOP SECRET/ SENSITIVE
EXCLUSIVELY EYES ONLY
MEMORANDUM FOR:
FROM:
SUBJECT:
June 1Z, 1972
MR. KISSINGER _1L
i 44
RICHARD H. SOLOMON
`
PRC Foreign Ministry Statement Attacks
U. S. on Vietnam Bombings
Two days after another official protest from Hanoi of June 10 in response
to U. S. air raids of June 6 and 8, the Foreign Ministry in Peking has now
issued a strongly worded statement supporting Hanoi and suggesting in
terms not heard for some time that China's security is being threatened
by the U. S. bombing. While Peking's statement toned down much of the .
political invective in the Hanoi version (for instance, Peking did not
attack the President by name, only "U. S. imperialism"), the bombing was
described as a "grave provocation against the Chinese people. "
In the first interlinking of the matter of China's security with the Indochina
war since the Lam Son 719 exercise in early 1971, Peking asserted that the
U. S. "has steadily expanded the sphere of bombing up to areas close to the
Sino-Vietnamese borders, threatening the security of China. " And for the
first time in months it was noted that China and Vietnam are "closely
related like the lips and the teeth, "
In a most unusual final paragraph, which seems directly addressed to high
Administration officials, the statement asserts that "U. S. imperialism
should know that the heroic peoples of Vietnam and the other Indochinese
countries are by no means alone in their struggle. "
Despite the verbal escalation in this statement, it does not imply that the
relationship.
ON-FILE NSC RELEASE
INSTRUCTIONS APPLY
The timing and tone of the official protest can be accounted for at a
number of levels of interpretation:
-- It may very well reflect PRC concern about our interdiction campaign,
which has U. S. planes bombing only minutes away from their border,
if that far.
TOP SECRET/SENSITIVE/EXCLUSIVELY EYES ONLY
No Objection to Declassification in Full 2009/12/22 : LOC-HAK-451-4-4-2
 No Objection to Declassification in Full 2009/12/22: LOC-HAK-451-4-4-2
V V
TOP SECRET/SENSITIVE/EXCLUSIVELY EYES ONLY
-- Hanoi may have needled the Chinese for a stronger statement,
given the low-key nature of recent PRC protests.
-- The Chinese almost certainly feel that they have been put into an
embarrassing predicament now that their efforts to normalize
relations with us are so clearly contrasted with our interdiction
campaign against Hanoi. As with the Chinese blast at the U. S.
delivered at the Stockholm conference -- where perhaps they did
not want to appear less militant than the Swedish Foreign Minister
PRC officials may have felt the time was overdue for a statement
reaffirming their anti-imperialist credentials.
-- Finally, this statement and the Stockholm attack may be seen as
an effort to "set the record straight" for all parties concerned in
advance of the coming visitation.
The PRC Foreign Ministry statement is at Tab A.
TOP SECRET/SENSITIVE/EXCLUSIVELY EYES ONLY
No Objection to Declassification in Full 2009/12/22 : LOC-HAK-451-4-4-2
 No Objection to Declassification in Full 2009/12/22: LOC-HAK-451-4-4-2
IG ry A. ~:1E .. ?i 'l :. ~.~ ?C ? ~~.... I ?rl7
PE');I!?JG W ,!A INTERt1ATIot'?-L SERVICE It) FUGLISH 1501 GMT
12 JUN 72B
(TEXT) PEXINt ?,'JUNE 12, 1972 (HSIPFUTA) -'- STATEMENT OF THE
I',!Ic'TFA OF FOR: 4W AFFAIRS O T! " t' OPL 'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA
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No Objection to Declassification in Full 2009/12/22 : LOC-HAK-451-4-4-2
 No Objection to Declassification in Full 2009/12/22: LOC-HAK-451-4-4-2
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