Gentlemen:
In a very few minutes the Vice President will be departing on a 30,000-mile trip which will take him to Vietnam, Thailand, the Republic of China, and Korea. On this trip he will be meeting with the heads of state of each of those countries. He will be having very substantive conversations and he will be taking from me personal messages, but substantive messages, on our bilateral relations with each nation.
The Vice President, as you will recall, took a trip to this part of the world just 8 months ago, a very successful trip in terms of reassuring our allies of our basic commitments in that area of the world and informing them of the purpose of the Nixon Doctrine--a doctrine which has as its goal not withdrawing from Asia, but providing the means whereby the United States will help other nations help themselves so that we can have a peaceful pacific with free nations in Asia able to defend themselves against aggression.
The Vice President will be returning on August 31 or September 1, possibly September 1, and will be reporting here at the Western White House before returning to Washington.
Perhaps you would like to say a word, Mr. Vice President.
Note: The President spoke at 11 :04 a.m. at the Western White House, San Clemente, Calif. Vice President Agnew responded as follows:
Thank you, Mr. President.
I am very pleased to undertake this mission to reaffirm the essentials of the Nixon Doctrine, which of course involve our dedication to remaining the American presence in Asia and living up to our treaty obligations there.
Of course, the people of the countries I am going to visit, the leaders, know very well that this is true, but the President feels, and I certainly agree with him, that it is wise to, in a direct personal conversation, underscore our dedication in this respect.
The visit to the Republic of Korea and China, also Thailand and Taiwan [South Vietnam], will certainly give me an opportunity to upgrade the information I had in conversations with the leaders of the three countries, except for Korea, and I am looking forward to my first visit to South Korea.
I think that the leaders of these countries will take my presence at the direct request of the President as a distinct reaffirmation of our conviction that the American presence in Southeast Asia is something that we are determined to maintain and that our friends can depend upon that.
As the President has indicated, when I return approximately September 1, I will report to him in some detail about my findings. I think it would be inappropriate to get into the substance of my discussions, but of course this is a working trip and I would expect to spend a great amount of my time in conversations with the high level officials of these countries.
Richard Nixon, Remarks at the Start of the Vice President's Asian Trip. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/240375
