Zhou Enlai’s Report to the Central Committee about His Contacts with Robert Eden and Georges Bidault

1. [Excised by the Department of Archives of the PRC Ministry of Foreign Affairs.]

2. Yesterday, military representatives from both sides began contact. Preliminary agreements have been reached regarding the date and other procedures of formal talks by the representatives of commanders-in-chief of both sides. Formal talks will begin today.

3. Last night I attended the banquet held by Eden. Eden mainly mentioned four issues:

a. Eden informally expressed [his opinion] that he did not support the participation of Poland and Czechoslovakia in the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission. He said that it would be better if the supervision was carried out by Asian countries. I said that the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission on Korea consisted only of European countries, and that some people opposed it. A commission consisting entirely of Asian countries would have disadvantages (I gave the example that it would be inappropriate for China as an Asian country to have supervision of the Kashmir problem). This time around it would be best if the commission could include both Asian and European countries, as proposed by Gromyko.

b. Eden expressed the wish that the representatives of the commanders-in-chief of both sides would open the maps and solve some specific problems.

c. Eden asked whether the conference would come to a conclusion in ten to fifteen days. I replied that it would depend on the efforts by both sides to reach an agreement.

d. Eden said that since the United Kingdom has [British Chargé d'Affaires in Beijing Humphrey] Trevelyan in Beijing, he hoped that China would send its counterpart of Trevelyan to the United Kingdom. I have agreed.

4. I visited Bidault at 10:00 yesterday evening. On the one hand, Bidault explained that he wanted to reach an agreement and not fight World War III; on the other hand, he threatened that if an agreement could not be reached, there would be danger. I pointed out that the danger would be intervention by the United States and the threat to China's security—these are the things that concern us the most. Bidault expressed his hope that the representatives of the commanders-in-chief of both sides could resolve some specific problems. He also emphasized that the issue of international supervision should be addressed as well. Although Bidault had said beforehand that he wanted to discuss some problems, he did not go deeply into the problems yesterday evening, nor did he bring up specific questions.

Zhou Enlai

2 June 1954