711.94114 Supplies/70a: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Minister in Switzerland (Harrison)
2908. American interests Japan. Your 2179, April 7;17 Department’s to Bern 1187, May 18;18 your 5034, August 17;19 Department’s [Page 825] 2393, September 30; your 6456, October 14.20 Please request Swiss Government to deliver communication to Japanese Government in following sense:
“In April 1943 the Japanese Government, with reference to several proposals set forth by the United States Government under which relief supplies for American and other Allied prisoners of war and civilian internees in Japanese custody might be forwarded from this country to Japan, stated ‘If American Government disposed send Vladivostok correspondence and packages for American internees either by Soviet ship or by land across Siberia, Japanese Government ready examine possibility relieving present situation.’
In a communication presented to the Japanese Government by the Swiss Legation, Tokyo, on May 26 United States Government stated that the Soviet Government ‘has expressed to the United States Government a readiness to extend assistance in arranging for the movement of relief supplies and mail to American prisoners of war and civilian internees in Japanese controlled areas subject to the condition that the United States and Japanese Governments reach a suitable understanding on this question’ and inquired ‘by what means the Japanese Government proposes that supplies sent from the United States to Vladivostok shall be moved from Vladivostok to Japan or Japanese-controlled territories.’
No reply has been received to the communication presented to the Japanese Government on May 26, although repeated efforts have been made by the Swiss Government, at the instance of the United States Government, to obtain a statement from the Japanese Government in regard to this matter.
On October 9, the Swiss Legation, Tokyo, at the request of the United States Government, presented a further communication to the Japanese Government in which it was stated that the Soviet Government had agreed to accept relief supplies intended for distribution to Allied Prisoners of war and civilian internees in Japanese custody in advance of the completion of final arrangements in respect of their onward movement to Japan, and that shipments of supplies to the Soviet Union were in fact then being made. It was pointed out in that communication that ‘the fact that supplies are moving forward should serve to disabuse the Japanese Government of any doubts it may have had whether the shipment via Soviet territory of supplies for the relief of Allied nationals in the East as suggested by the Japanese Government itself was feasible.’ Although an early reply to this communication was requested, no reply thus far has been received.
Supplies have actually reached Vladivostok and are now awaiting transshipment to Japan. The United States Government cannot proceed unilaterally in this matter and points out to the Japanese Government that until the latter shall have made known to the United States Government the means by which the Japanese Government proposes that relief supplies be forwarded, on a continuing basis, from Soviet territory to a point where the supplies may be received by the Japanese authorities for distribution to Allied prisoners of war and civilian internees in their custody, the proposal advanced to the United States Government by the Japanese Government cannot [Page 826] be fully implemented. The United States Government points out further that all the conditions set forth in the Japanese Government’s proposal of last April have been met and urges that a reply to this communication be forwarded to the United States Government at an early date.
The relief supplies which were shipped on the Gripsholm and taken to Japanese territory on the Teia Maru for distribution will not last indefinitely. The United States Government therefore desires promptly to be informed where and how the Japanese authorities are willing to receive for distribution to prisoners of war and civilian internees in Japanese hands the supplemental relief supplies already at Vladivostok and those which the United States Government with the Soviet Government’s permission proposes to forward through Soviet territory on a continuing basis. The United States Government will endeavor promptly to meet the Japanese Government’s wishes with respect to moving these supplies to the point where the Japanese Government is willing to receive them for distribution, so that additional supplies may be made available on a continuing basis when the supplies sent in the exchange ships shall have been consumed.”
Please inform Department date this communication delivered to Japanese Government.21
- Post, p. 1019.↩
- Quoted in Department’s telegram No. 365, May 26, 9 p.m., to the Ambassador in the Soviet Union, p. 803.↩
- Not printed.↩
- Telegram No. 6456 not printed, but see footnote 11, p. 820.↩
- The Minister in Switzerland informed the Department by telegram No. 7627, December 6, 1943, that the Swiss Government had delivered this communication to the Japanese Government on November 30 (711.94114 Supplies/72).↩