892.24/64½
The British Minister (Hall) to the Assistant Secretary of State (Acheson)
Dear Mr. Acheson: Since writing to you on July 7th on the question of Thailand, I have received a further communication from London. Sir J. Crosby has been given by the Thai Government a forecast of their counter-proposals in respect to Rubber and Tin. The Foreign Office, subject to the approval of the United States Government, is prepared to instruct him to clinch the agreement on the following terms. They feel that further delay in settling may be dangerous.
With regard to rubber, the agreement will merely state the amount which Thailand is to assign to us, namely a minimum of 1,500 tons a month, plus any excess over a total export of 4,000 tons a month which Sir J. Crosby can secure. It appears that Japan has already been promised 2,500 tons a month. I shall refer to this again later in this letter.
With regard to tin, the Thai Government are apparently prepared to maintain the open market as at present. Sir John [Josiah] Crosby hopes to obtain an assurance that the produce of the British mines in Thailand, equivalent to ⅔ of the total, will continue to go to Malaya. Some at least of the remainder should be available for allocation to U. S. purchases as suggested in Mr. Thorold’s letter of June 24th to Mr. Peck. The Thai Government has still to find a balance of 2,000 tons of tin which they owe the Japanese in payment of aeroplanes purchased from them. The alternatives are either that we provide this quantity ourselves or allow the Thai Government to purchase it in local markets, which Sir J. Crosby says they are willing to do. My Government prefer the latter alternative and, subject to the approval of your Government, are prepared to instruct Sir John [Josiah] Crosby accordingly.
It is also hoped that it may be possible to obtain from the Thai Government an assurance that there will be no unfair treatment of or discrimination against British or Australian mining companies in Thailand.
In general we are inclined to think that there are certain advantages in your Government conducting their negotiations separately in the belief that so far at least as rubber is concerned such a course [Page 208] is more likely to prove effective in reducing Japan’s allocations. Naturally all rubber allotted to us, as well as all tin passing to Singapore, will only be disposed of by agreement between my Government and yours.
It is hoped that in the course of such separate negotiations the United States Government will insist not only on receiving a part of the Japanese rubber allocation mentioned above, but will also insist that the price is reduced to the Singapore level. This is important not only in itself, but also to check the incentive to smuggling from Malaya which is difficult to stop entirely by administrative measures. In order not to prejudice your chances of obtaining some concession on these lines, the agreement which it is suggested Sir John [Josiah] Crosby should be instructed to negotiate will make no reference either to the price or to the amount to be allocated to Japan both of which we hope may be reduced as a result of your Government’s separate negotiations.
If, despite the assistance of your Government on this point, we find it impossible to obtain our allocation without paying a premium, my Government hopes that the United States Government will be prepared to bear a part if not the entire additional cost.
The Foreign Office have drawn my attention to the possibility that the Thai Government may attempt to obtain from the United States, in exchange for allocations of rubber, some form of undertaking whereby American aircraft are to be made available to them. My Government hopes that if this question is raised no arrangement will be made with the Thai Government whereby our supplies of American aeroplanes might be interfered with.
In order that Sir John [Josiah] Crosby’s negotiations may be resumed without delay, I should be most grateful if you would inform me as soon as you conveniently can whether this outline of the instructions which it is proposed to send him meet with the approval of your Government.
Yours sincerely,