RED CHINA MAY FREE U.S. PRISONERS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75-00001R000400210002-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: November 11, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 8, 1999
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: November 30, 1960
• Content Type: NSPR

WASHINGTON - There is an outside chance
fled China has at long last decided to liberate
the five Americans serving long sentences on
phony spy charges.
Basis of this glimmer of hope is a meeting
in Warsaw this week be- ''
t1
? Sanitized - Approved For' ReFase : CIA-RD
Robert S. Illenf. - I'atil Scott Report
Red China May Free U.S. Prisoners
s") .
tween Amt,assador Jaeoh
Beam end Ambassador
Nang Ping-nan - the 102nd
of these deliberations 'that
have been urxicr -m, since
September 19.-15.
? Ijecause the Crnnmunist
envoy sough th;s latest scl-
sion, hope his revival that
the long-imprisoned Ameri-
cans may he freed.
When he submitted this
request to Beam last week,
Wang Ping-nan intve no hint
NuV
as to the- reason for it. They last met on Oc-
tober 16. without any results or the slightest In-
dication that other meetings would be any more
productive. V
STATE Der crtment authorities conjecture
that with the Christmas season approaching,
Peiping may he preparing. to make a spectacu-
lar p , gatbda gesture by liberating the im-
prisoned Antericltns. However. it is readily ad-
mitted this is merely a ityi-mise.
Secretary of State Heiler has directed Am-
bassador Beam, in his conference with Wang
Ping-nan, to again stress the following three
S. stands:
(1)' Release of the five Americans, '(2) ex-
change of newspaper . correspondents with no
strings attactud; c3) renunciation of the use
armed force at the. Formosa area. The Redid
have pcrsisteii y tsdkcd at-all these demands.
PRFdlDENT-Ef.E?'CT kenn* WO felt 640-
prized at thee latest Warsaw meeting and approv-
es of it. ?
He is also rrprewented as favoring ecmtlnuing
these discccaions, but possibly on a JifIeregt
1r \i4. 1 eydr l that general. thoogtit. his views
haven't crystalized. But It is a problem he
plans to ask his w's rotay of ate;cc to tiereonally
consider and submit reaxnmendations.
During the course of -these. five-year-old ex-
c-turngcs, the Communists hpve twice tried to
shift them to the forNgn ministers level.
THE FIVE-YEAR-old meetings were agreed
to by the U. S. on assurances that all American
prisoners would ?be freed. 'frventy-three % ore re-
leased art 19&, .Othin n few mbnths'after the
talks started. But the Cornmualsts have stead-
lastly retusod to liberate Me other five on the
ground they were convicted of espionage. ..
The parents of two of them, John Thomas
Downey. New f;ritain, Conn ; . and - Richard .
F-ecteau, Lyrm, Mass.. have behn admitted to
China to visit them. Downey and Fecteau'are
Army civilian employees who were captured
during the Koreah war. Charged w4th being
spies, Downy was trentenceed for life and Fect-
eau given 20 years.
The other pr iyoners are Bishop Walsh, Wash-
ington. D. C:; H. 'F. Redmond, Yonkers, N. Y.;
and Robert-McCann, Altadena, Calif. Redmond
and M,-eCapn are bueines nen who a-so were ac=
eased o f espionage. The toittte!, got life, and t
latter 15 yeat7. ? ?~
r..
STATINTL
,CPYRGHT
Sani?t'ized - Approved For Release : CIA-RDP75-00001 R000400210002-9