SECRET 1 TO U FROM EA ACA i - Mr Abramowitz I i - Harry E T Tha of Shootdown U S Drone h 1 that if the Chinese raise the question of the sador presence of theU S drone over Hainan Is nd Stoessel should only take note of the Chine omment and that he should not apologize Po l$ti'ca'l Ka't$o'n'a'l'e' 'Ke'ga'r'd$n'g' 'ChTna -- As far asI know we have never apologized-to the in the past for aerial reconnaissance incidents -- Chinese If we apologize in this case we are putting ourselves in the position both of having to explain past cases and more importantly of having to apologize in future cases If we were certain that any future cases would similarly involve an accidental overflight apology might beappropriate butfuture overflights such an might not'be accidental -- An apology in this case might also lead the Chinese to press ust o take the for the future next' step of foreswearing such acts 3 p r c -- A U S apology to the Chinese at Warsaw would I agree But such an apology be well received by the Chinese would only be a gesture 'and assuch'a minor gain for the Chinese An apology would not alter the'chinese view of theaone's presence as a hostile act and the Chinese consider the apology to abe hypocriti- in any event would nothing to do with the basic U S cal gesture having attitude regardingreconnaissance -- An added but not centra1 consideration is that the Chinese have indicated by their propaganda treatment of this incident to date that they do not plan to a major make issue of the incident If they do raise it atWarsaw we must assume at this pointthat they would not press for a U S apology or other statement but rather would just wish to make the point and probably would not expect the U S side to reply to the complaint 2 -- It is the long-standing policy ofU the S intelligence community aside from certain cases such as the Powers' U-2 incident and flights over Cuba not to comment in any fashion on this'type of incident An acknowledgement to the Chinese would abesignificant departure from this policy -- We do not yet have the facts stances of the overflight regarding the exact 2 Ambassador Brown has seen this memorandum and concurs I have also discussed this today with INR DDC Mr McAfee who concurs in substance - cc - Mr Monjo INR DDC - Mr McAfee J EA ACA HETThayer lgr X-20708 2-19-70 SECRET -- circum-