Foreign Relations of the United States: Diplomatic Papers, The Conferences at Cairo and Tehran, 1943

Hopkins Papers

Memoranda by the Chinese Government¹

[Cairo, November 24, 1943.]

Establishment of a Four-Power Council or a Council of the United Nations

I. Pending the formation of a Council of the United Nations, the United States, Great Britain, the U. S. S. R., and China should establish at the earliest practicable date a Four-Power Council for the discussion of questions connected with the Four-Power Declaration.²

II. The Council shall maintain a Permanent Standing Committee in Washington. The Committee may, as occasion arises, hold meetings in London, Chungking, or Moscow.

III. The Council is charged with the duty of organizing a Council of the United Nations.

IV. As regards the organization of the Council of the United Nations, the Chinese Government endorses the proposed scheme of the Government of the United States: viz., Eleven of the United Nations shall form an executive body, with the United States, Great Britain, the U. S. S. R., and China acting as a Presidium.³

International Security During the Period of Transition

I. The United States, Great Britain, the U. S. S. R., and China should establish an Inter-Allied Military Technical Commission to consider all military questions concerning the organization and maintenance of international security.

II. For the successful organization and maintenance of international security, a certain number of International Naval and Air Bases will be established. Such Bases should be located at strategic points all over the world, the selection of which should be based upon the opinion of experts and subject to the consent of the States wherein such Bases are to be situated.

European Questions and the Surrender of Germany

Any discussion on European questions among the United Nations should be communicated forthwith to the Chinese Government. China should be invited to participate in any decision concerning the surrender of Germany.

Questions Relating to the Far East

I. Formation of a Far Eastern Committee.

China, Great Britain, and the United States should set up a Far Eastern Committee to facilitate joint consultation on political problems arising from the progress of the war in the Far East. The participation of the U. S. S. R. in this Committee is welcomed at any time.

II. Creation of a Unified Command.

With a view to unifying the strategy and direction of the war of the United Nations against the enemy in the Far East, the existing Anglo-American Council of Chiefs-of-Staff in Washington should be enlarged to be a tripartite council, that is, a Council of Chiefs-of-Staff of China, the United States, and Great Britain; or in the alternative, a Sino-American Council of Chiefs-of-Staff should be established for the direction of the Chinese and American forces in the Far East.

III. Administration of Enemy Territory and Enemy-held Territories following Allied Occupation.

(A) On the occupation of the territory of the enemy, the army of occupation shall exercise the powers of military and civil administration. However, if the army of occupation should be neither Chinese nor British nor American, then all political problems concerning the said territory shall be settled by a specially created Joint Council, wherein China, Great Britain, and the United States, even though without an army in the said territory, shall fully participate for the control of the said territory.

(B) On the liberation of any part of the territory of China, Great Britain, or the United States, the powers of military administration shall be exercised by the army of occupation; and the powers of civil administration, by the State which rightfully has sovereignty over the territory in question. Matters touching on both the military and the civil administration shall be settled by consultation between the army of occupation and the civil administrative organ of the said State.

(C) On the liberation of any part of the territory of other United Nations, the powers of military administration shall be exercised by the army of occupation; and the powers of civil administration, by the State which rightfully has sovereignty over the territory in question, subject, however, to the control of the army of occupation. (In other words, China endorses the proposed scheme of Great Britain and the United States regarding the administration of liberated territories in Europe.⁴)

IV. Settlement with Japan upon Her Defeat.

(A) China, Great Britain, and the United States should agree upon certain guiding principles for the treatment of Japan after her defeat—principles similar to those adopted by the Tripartite Conference in Moscow regarding the treatment of defeated Italy.

(B) China, Great Britain, and the United States should agree upon a program for the punishment of the leaders in Japan responsible for the war and of the officers and men of the Japanese armed forces responsible for the atrocities perpetrated during the war,—a program similar to the one adopted by the Tripartite Conference in Moscow for the punishment of Nazi war criminals.⁵

(C) China, Great Britain, and the United States should agree to recognize the independence of Korea after the war. The adherence of the U. S. S. R. to this agreement for the recognition of Korea’s independence is welcomed at any time.

(D) Japan shall restore to China all the territories she has taken from China since September 18, 1931. Japan shall also return Dairen and Port Arthur, and Formosa and the Pescadores Islands to China.

(E) For the settlement of questions relating to territories in the Pacific, China, Great Britain, and the United States should agree upon certain basic principles and also establish a Committee of Experts to make recommendations for the settlement of these questions. If such a Committee is not established, its work shall be undertaken by the projected Far Eastern Committee.

(F) All Japanese property in China, private as well as public, and the Japanese mercantile fleet shall be taken over by the Chinese Government as indemnification in part for the losses sustained by the Chinese Government and people in the war. For the maintenance of peace in the Far East after the war, Japan’s ammunition and war materials, her war vessels and her aircraft, which may still remain at the end of hostilities, shall be placed at the disposal of the Joint Council of Chiefs-of-Staff of China, the United States, and Great Britain, or in the alternative, of the projected Far Eastern Committee.

1. Handed by Wang to Hopkins by direction of Chiang, for transmission to Roosevelt—not as formal proposals but as an indication of the problems which, the Chinese felt, might suitably be discussed, and “as reference material for the committee responsible for the drafting of the communiqué”. This footnote is based on, and the quoted words are taken from, a letter of May 21, 1957, from the Chinese Ambassador at Washington (Tong) to the Historical Office, Department of State (023.1/5–2157). It does not appear that any committee was appointed to draft the communiqué; see post, pp. 399–404.
2. For the text of the Declaration of Four Nations on General Security, signed at the Moscow Conference on October 30, 1943, and issued November 1, 1943, see Decade, p. 11.
3. The “proposed scheme” was apparently a reflection of the Draft Constitution of International Organization, dated July 14, 1943; see Notter, p. 473.
4. See ante, p. 382, footnote 4.
5. Declaration of German Atrocities, November 1, 1943; Decade, p. 13.