892.01/9–645
The British Minister (Sansom) to the Chief of the Division of Southeast Asian Affairs (Moffat)
Dear Mr. Moffat: You will remember that in the State Department’s Aide-Mémoire of August 22nd, commenting on this Embassy’s Aide-Mémoire of August 20th concerning agreements to be negotiated with Thai representatives at Kandy, we were asked to explain the intention of the words “undertake to participate in any international arrangement regarding tin and rubber” in a paragraph numbered D 5 in the annex to the Embassy’s Aide-Mémoire in question.
[Page 1308]The Embassy was instructed by the Foreign Office on September 1st to inform you that the intention of the clause concerning tin and rubber is that, if there is a Rubber Study Group or Tin Study Group or any other form of international arrangement in which all countries interested in the production or consumption of rubber or tin take part, Thailand would undertake also to take part in it.
I think I told you this orally when we met the night before last, but think it is better to confirm it in writing. I should add that this explanation reached us before we had received the State Department’s Aide-Mémoire of September 1st, in which the same question was raised.
Yours sincerely,