Foreign Relations of the United States: Diplomatic Papers, 1945, The British Commonwealth, The Far East, Volume VI

741.92/8–2045

The British Embassy to the Department of State

Aide-Mémoire

1. It is intended that there should be negotiated simultaneously at Kandy, Ceylon, (A) a political agreement of purely British interest between His Majesty’s Government (represented by Mr. Dening, Chief Political Adviser to Admiral Mountbatten), and a Thai liberation government, and (B) an agreement on military and quasi-military matters of Allied implication between Admiral Mountbatten, (Supreme Allied Commander South East Asia), and the Thai liberation government.

2. Attached is the text of the heads of the above-mentioned political Agreement, together with the text of the military Agreement in the form of an Annex with an Appendix to it. These two Agreements contain the terms which, as soon as the final views of His Majesty’s Governments in the Dominions and the Governments of India and Burma have been received, His Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom propose to present to the Regent of Thailand with a view to liquidating the state of war existing with Thailand and providing a foundation and framework for future cooperation with her.

3. The matters dealt with in the military agreement to be made by Admiral Mountbatten include all those matters which His Majesty’s Government think that he can properly negotiate in his capacity as Supreme Allied Commander of a Combined Command, and the terms are being submitted to the Combined Chief of Staff with a view to the issue of a directive to Admiral Mountbatten to conclude an agreement in accordance with them.

4. His Majesty’s Government would be grateful if the United States Government would treat these terms as strictly confidential and particularly refrain from divulging them at this stage to the Thais.

Washington , August 20, 1945.

[Enclosure]

Text of Heads of Agreement To Be Presented by Mr. Dening (Chief Political Adviser to Admiral Mountbatten) on Behalf of His Majesty’s Government to Representatives of the Regent of Thailand at Kandy, Ceylon¹⁵

The attitude of His Majesty’s Government towards Thailand will depend on the degree of her cooperation in matters arising out of the termination of hostilities against Japan and on her readiness

(A) to make restitution to His Majesty’s Government and their Allies for the injury done them in consequence of Thailand’s association with Japan and

(B) to ensure security and good-neighbourly relations for the future.

2. The particular steps which His Majesty’s Government would expect a Thai liberation government to take as a condition of recognising it as the Government of Thailand and of collaborating with it, are as follows:—

A. Measures of Repudiation

1. Repudiate the declaration of war made on Great Britain on the 25th January, 1942, and all measures pursuant to that declaration which may operate to the prejudice of Great Britain.

2. Repudiate the alliance entered into by Thailand with Japan on the 21st December, 1941,¹⁶ and all other treaties, pacts or agreements concluded between Thailand and Japan.

3. Renounce all territory acquired by Thailand later than the 11th December, 1940, including all territory which was purported to be ceded by the Vichy Government on the 9th May, 1941.

B. Measures of Restitution and Readjustment

1. Take the necessary legislative and administrative measures to give effect to Section A above, including in particular—

(a) Repeal all legislative and administrative measures relating to the annexation or incorporation in Thailand of territories acquired later than the 11th December, 1940.

(b) Withdraw as may be required by the competent civil or military authority all Thai military personnel from all Allied territories annexed by or incorporated in Thailand after the 11th December, 1940; and all Thai officials and nationals who entered these territories after their annexation by or incorporation in Thailand.

(c) Restore all property taken away from those territories. This would include currency except to the extent to which it could be established that fair value had been given in exchange.

(d) Compensate loss or damage to property rights and interests in those territories arising out of the occupation of those territories by Thailand.

(e) Redeem in sterling, out of former sterling reserves, Thai notes collected by the British authorities in British territory occupied by Thailand since 1942.

2. Release all British prisoners of war and internees held in Thailand or in territories annexed by or incorporated in Thailand after the 11th December, 1940, and at Thai expense provide them with adequate food, clothing, medical and hygienic services, and transportation, in consultation with the Allied Military Authorities.

3. Assume responsibility for safeguarding, maintaining and restoring unimpaired, British property rights and interests of all kinds in Thailand and for payment of compensation for losses or damage sustained. The term “property rights and interests” to include, inter alia, the official property of His Majesty’s Government, property whose ownership has been transferred since the outbreak of war, pensions granted to British nationals, stocks of tin, teak and other commodities, shipping and wharves, and tin, teak and other leases and concessions granted to British firms and individuals prior to the 7th December, 1941, and still valid at that date.

4. Desequestrate and reinstate British banking and commercial concerns.

5. Accept liability, with the addition of interest at an appropriate percentage in respect of payments in arrears, for the service of loans and for the payment of pensions since the date when regular payments ceased.

6. Undertake to conclude as and when required, with the Supreme Allied Commander, S.E.A.C. or other appropriate authority, an agreement or agreements to cover all or any of the matters specified in the Annex to this document.

C. Measures for Post-War Strategic Co-operation

1. Recognise that the course of events in the war with Japan demonstrates the importance of Thailand to the defence of Burma, Malaya and Indo-China and the security of the Indian Ocean and South West Pacific Areas.

2. Agree, until such time as she is admitted to membership of The United Nations, to carry out such measures for the preservation of international peace and security as The United Nations Organisation may require.

3. Undertake that no canal linking the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Thailand shall be cut across Thai territory without the prior formal concurrence of His Majesty’s Government.

D. Measures for Post-War Economic Co-operation

1. Agree to take all possible measures to reestablish import and export trade between Thailand, on the one hand, and neighbouring British territories on the other, and to adopt and maintain a good-neighbourly policy in regard to coastal shipping.

2. Undertake to negotiate as soon as practicable a new Treaty of Commerce and Navigation and a Consular and Establishment Convention based on the principles in the following paragraph.

3. Pending the conclusion of the Treaty and Convention referred to in paragraph 2 above, undertake to observe the provisions of the Treaty of Commerce and Navigation signed at Bangkok on the 23rd November 1937¹⁷ and, in addition, not to enforce measures excluding British commercial or industrial interests or British professional men from participation in Thai economy and trade (subject to such exceptions, if any, as may be agreed between His Majesty’s Government and the Thai Government) or requiring them to maintain stocks or reserves in excess of normal commercial, shipping, industrial, or business practice, provided that if the Treaty and Convention have not been concluded within a period of three years, this undertaking shall lapse unless it is prolonged by agreement.

4. Undertake to negotiate a Civil Aviation Agreement in respect of all British Commonwealth Civil Air Services not less favourable than the Agreement of 1937 with respect to Imperial Airways.¹⁸

5. Undertake to participate in any international arrangements regarding tin and rubber.

E. Regularisation of Thai Position in Relation to Bilateral and Multilateral Treaties and Membership of International Organisations.

(This section has not yet been completed and a blanket formula will be included later in the Agreement in order to bind the Thai Government to take appropriate measures in due course.)

Annex

Text of Agreement on Military and Quasi-Military Matters To Be Presented by Admiral Mountbatten, S.A.C.S.E.A., to Representatives of the Regent of Thailand at Kandy, Ceylon.

The Thai Liberation Government shall agree:

1. To dissolve any military, para-military or political organisation conducting propaganda hostile to the United Nations.

2. To hand over to the Allied Military Authorities all vessels belonging to the United Nations which are in Thai ports.

3. To carry out such measures of disarmament and demobilisation as may be prescribed by the Allies.

4. To take all possible steps to ensure the prompt release of all Allied prisoners of war and internees; and at Thai expense to provide them with adequate food, clothing, medical and hygienic services, and transportation in consultation with the Allied Military Authorities.

5. To assume responsibility for safeguarding, maintaining and restoring unimpaired, Allied property, rights and interests of all kinds in Thailand and for payment of compensation for losses or damage sustained.

6. To desequestrate and reinstate Allied banking and commercial concerns.

7. To cooperate with the Allied Military Authorities in:

(a) disarming Japanese forces in Thailand and handing them over to the Allies as prisoners of war;

(b) interning all Japanese (and other enemy) nationals and holding them at the disposal of the Allies; and

(c) seizing and delivering to the designated Allied Military Authority all war material belonging to the Japanese, including naval and merchant vessels of all kinds, aircraft, weapons ammunition, motor and other transport, military stores including aviation and other petrols and fuels, stocks of food and clothing, wireless equipment and any other property whatsoever of the Japanese armed forces.

8. To prohibit trading with the enemies of the Allies.

9. To hold all Japanese (and other enemy) property at the disposal of the Allies.

10. To cooperate in the apprehension and trial of persons accused of war crimes or notable for affording active assistance to Japan or other enemies of the Allies.

11. To hand over to the Allied Military Authorities all renegades of Allied nationality.

12. To maintain and make available to the Allied Military Authorities such of the Thai naval, land and air forces with their ports, airfields, establishments, equipment, communications, weapons and stores of all kinds as may be specified, and in addition such land and buildings as may from time to time be required by the Allied Military Authorities for the accommodation of troops and stores.

13. To place at the disposal of the Allied Military Authorities ports and free traffic facilities in and over Thai territory as required.

14. To provide free of cost all other supplies and services and all Thai currency that may be required by the Allied Military Authorities and pay the cost of production of any Thai currency produced by the Allies for any purpose in Thailand.

15. To arrange in accordance with the wishes of the Allied Military Authorities for press and other censorship and control over radio and telecommunication installations or other forms of inter-communication.

16. To continue civil administration subject to such instructions as may be issued by the competent Allied Military Authority in the pursuance of his task of those areas of Thailand not placed under Allied military administration.

17. In case of need, to arrange for facilities for the recruitment of local labour and for the utilisation in Thai territory of industrial and transport enterprises and of means of communication, power stations, public utility enterprises and other facilities, stocks of fuel and other materials in accordance with the requirements and instructions of the Allied Military Authorities.

18. To make Thai merchant vessels, whether in Thai or foreign waters, subject to the control of the Allies for use as may be required in the general interests of the Allies.

19. To negotiate an agreement granting judicial and other immunities for Allied forces in Thailand.

20. To agree to the setting up of a Military Mission, to be appointed by the appropriate Allied Military Authorities, to advise on the organisation, training and equipment of the Thai armed forces.

21. To control banks and businesses, foreign exchange, foreign commercial and financial transactions and regulate trade and production as required by the Allies.

22. To undertake to prohibit, except in accordance with the directions of the Combined Boards acting on behalf of the Allies or of such other similar authority which replaces these Boards, any exports of rice, tin, rubber and teak for such time as may seem to the Authority concerned necessary in the economic circumstances prevailing at the time.

23.

• (a) To make available free of cost at Bangkok as quickly as may be compatible with the retention of supplies adequate for Thai internal needs 1½ million tons of sound white rice, or if so agreed by the Authorities appointed by the Allies for the purpose the equivalent quantity of paddy.
• (b) For so long as in the opinion of the Combined Boards or other Authority acting on behalf of the Allies a world shortage of rice continues, to take all possible measures to promote and to maintain the maximum rice production and make available to an Allied Rice Unit the resulting surpluses at prices to be fixed in agreement with the Allied Rice Unit, having regard to the controlled prices of rice in other Asiatic producing areas.
• (c) To conclude a detailed agreement with the Allied Rice Unit regarding the measures to be taken to give effect to (a) and (b) above. Such agreement to cover the points detailed in the Appendix¹⁹ to this Annex, and to provide in addition (i) for the Allies to take whatever measures may be required for the fulfilment of these obligations until the Thai Government are themselves, in the view of the Allies, in a position to ensure this; (ii) for the continued cooperation thereafter of the Thai Government with the Rice Unit in the fulfillment of any obligations already incurred.

24. To agree to frame Thai currency policy (including the rates of exchange to be fixed at the outset, which may include different rates for bahts of the pre-war issue and bahts printed by the Japanese) in accordance with the advice of Allied representatives with a view to facilitating the maximum production of rice and of other commodities in short supply and to obviating economic disturbance.

25. To arrange the withdrawal and redemption in Thai currency at par, within a specified time limit, of all holdings in Thai territory of currency issued by the Allies if it shall have been found necessary to use such an Allied currency.

26. To agree to pay in full for all relief supplies, such payment to be made in gold until all obligations to supply rice free of charge as the Thai contribution to United Nations requirements have been discharged, and thereafter out of the proceeds of exports of rice and other products.

15. A revised Heads of Agreement was submitted by the British Embassy on August 31. The various modifications excluded references to territorial questions involving Thailand and French Indochina, for it was “assumed that these questions will be dealt with in a separate instrument to be negotiated by the French Provisional Government with the Thai Government”. For example, Paragraph A 3 was modified to read: ‘Renounce all British territory acquired by Thailand later than the 7th December, 1941.” (740.00119 P.W./8–3145)
16. Signed at Bangkok, British and Foreign State Papers, vol. cxliv, p. 838.
17. League of Nations Treaty Series, vol. clxxxviii, p. 333.
18. For exchange of notes at Bangkok, December 3, 1937, constituting an agreement for the operation of regular air services over Siam and over India and Burma, see League of Nations Treaty Series, vol. clxxxvi, p. 293.
19. Not printed; it listed 13 measures “considered essential to ensure the export of the maximum quantities of rice from Thailand”.