740.00119 FEAC/12–2845:
Telegram
The Acting Secretary of
State to the Chargé in Australia (Minter)
Washington, December 28,
1945.
131. You should, acting in name of this Govt and on behalf of
Govts of US, USSR, UK and China, address a communication to Govt
to which you are accredited making appropriate reference to
previous correspondence and inviting that Govt to participate in
Far Eastern Commission on basis of following terms of reference:
- “I. Establishment of The
Commission.
- A Far Eastern Commission is hereby established
composed of the representatives of the Union of
Soviet Socialist Republics, United Kingdom, United
States, China, France, The Netherlands, Canada,
Australia, New Zealand, India, and the Philippine
Commonwealth.
- II. Functions.
- A.
- The functions of the Far Eastern Commission
shall be:
- 1.
- To formulate the policies, principles, and
standards in conformity with which the fulfillment
by Japan of its obligations under the terms of
surrender may be accomplished.
- 2.
- To review, on the request of any member, any
directive issued to the Supreme Commander for the
Allied Powers or any action taken by the Supreme
Commander involving policy decisions within the
jurisdiction of The Commission.
- 3.
- To consider such other matters as may be
assigned to it by agreement among the
participating Govts reached in accordance with the
voting procedure provided for in article V 2
hereunder.
- B.
- The Commission shall not make
recommendations with regard to the conduct of
military operations nor with regard to territorial
adjustments.
- C.
- The Commission in its activities will
proceed from the fact that there has been formed
an Allied Council for Japan and will respect
existing control machinery in Japan, including the
chain of command from the United States Govt to
the Supreme Commander and the Supreme Commander’s
command of occupation forces.
- III. Functions of The United
States Govt.
- 1.
- The United States Govt shall prepare
directives in accordance with policy decisions of
The Commission and shall transmit them to the
Supreme Commander through the appropriate United
States Govt agency. The Supreme Commander shall be
charged with the implementation of the directives
which express the policy decisions of The
Commission.
- 2.
- If The Commission decides that any
directives or action reviewed in accordance with
article II–A–2 should be modified, its decision
shall be regarded as a policy decision.
- 3.
- The United States Government may issue
interim directives to the Supreme Commander
pending action by the Commission whenever urgent
matters arise not covered by policies already
formulated by the commission; provided that any
directive dealing with fundamental
[Page 895]
changes in the Japanese
constitutional structure or in the regime of
control, or dealing with a change in the Japanese
Government as a whole will be issued only
following consultation and following the
attainment of agreement in The Far Eastern
Commission.
- 4.
- AH directives issued shall be filed with the
commission.
- IV. Other methods of
consultation.
- The establishment of The Commission shall not
preclude the use of other methods of consultation on
Far Eastern issues by the participating
Govts.
- V. Composition.
- 1.
- The Far Eastern Commission shall consist of
one representative of each of the states party to
this agreement. The membership of the commission
may be increased by agreement among the
participating powers as conditions warrant by the
addition of representatives of other United
Nations in the Far East or having territories
therein. The commission shall provide for full and
adequate consultations, as occasion may require,
with representatives of the United Nations not
members of the commission in regard to matters
before the commission which are of particular
concern to such nations.
- 2.
- The commission may take action by less than
unanimous vote provided that action shall have the
concurrence of at least a majority of all the
representatives including the representatives of
the four following powers: United States, United
Kingdom, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and
China.
- VI. Location and
organization.
- 1.
- The Far Eastern Commission shall have its
headquarters in Washington. It may meet at other
places as occasion requires, including Tokyo, if
and when it deems it desirable to do so. It may
make such arrangements through the Chairman as may
be practicable for consultation with the Supreme
Commander for the Allied Powers.
- 2.
- Each representative on the commission may be
accompanied by an appropriate staff comprising
both civilian and military representation.
- 3.
- The commission shall organize its
secretariat, appoint such committees as may be
deemed advisable, and otherwise perfect its
organization and procedure.
- VII. Termination.
- The Far Eastern Commission shall cease to function
when a decision to that effect is taken by the
concurrence of at least a majority of all the
representatives including the representatives of the
four following powers: United States, United
Kingdom, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and
China. Prior to the termination of its functions the
commission shall transfer to any interim or
permanent security organization of which the
participating Govts are members those functions
which may appropriately be transferred.”
Sent to Canberra, Paris, The Hague, Ottawa, Wellington and New
Delhi.64
