Lot M–88: Box 2080, Folder “Conference of Foreign Ministers Minutes”81
Memorandum of Conversation
| Participants: | U.S. |
| Secretary Byrnes | |
| Mr. Bohlen | |
| U.S.S.R. | |
| Mr. Molotov | |
| Mr. Pavlov | |
| Place: | The Waldorf-Astoria |
Subjects: 1. Moscow as meeting place of next session of CFM.
2. Trusteeship.
3. Greece.
4. Appointment of Deputies to hear views of other countries on Germany.
[Page 706][Here follow a brief reference to the trusteeship subject and an exchange regarding the proposal to hold the next session of the Conference of Foreign Ministers at Moscow.]
Trusteeship
Mr. Molotov, reverting to the question of Trusteeship, said he had wished to have a preliminary discussion with the Secretary in order to ascertain whether or not they could reach an agreement on the question of Trusteeship.
The Secretary replied that up to their conversation on Saturday he had thought that as a result of the talks between Mr. Dulles and Ambassador Novikov, a satisfactory agreement was being reached; but he gathered from Mr. Molotov that these talks had not been satisfactory to him.
Mr. Molotov said that if only consultation was being offered this would not constitute a satisfactory solution to the Soviet Government since it would not be in conformity with the Charter which set up a special position for the five permanent members of the Trusteeship Council. The Soviet position was that these five because of their special position should be regarded as countries directly concerned even though in all cases this right was not exercised. He felt this was an indisputable principle. In individual cases he felt it would be possible to reach agreement as to what countries should be regarded as directly concerned, but he repeated that each one of the five countries should have the right to declare its direct interest.
He did not mean that only the five would be directly interested but that certain small countries under specific circumstances should also be so regarded in connection with one or another trusteeship area. The actual determining in specific cases could be done in the interim period between this General Assembly and the next session. He suggested that if three or four specific trusteeship agreements could be made before the close of the present General Assembly, the Trusteeship Council could be set up right away. He repeated, however, that in the meantime the five countries should confirm through an exchange of letters their understanding that the five permanent members of the Trusteeship Council are regarded as having the right to be regarded as countries directly concerned in all cases.
The Secretary said he thought that it was reasonable to set up the Trusteeship Council during the present session and then use the interim to consider among themselves the question of the determination of countries directly concerned. He said he would talk over the subject with our representative on the Trusteeship Commission.
Mr. Molotov said that there was one difficulty which would have [Page 707] to be settled and that was the question of military bases on trusteeship territories. The Soviet Delegation felt that in all cases involving military bases the Security Council would have to pass on the matter. He said if they could agree that any bases in trusteeship areas required Security Council approval and conclude three or four specific trusteeship agreements, the Trusteeship Council could be set up at this session. He said if there were other nonagreed questions in such trusteeship agreements, any country or countries could make a reservation on specific points without blocking the acceptance of the agreement.
The Secretary repeated that he would communicate with Mr. Dulles, our representative, on this matter and communicate with Molotov later.
Mr. Molotov then said that he understood that there was no objection to an exchange of letters confirming the understanding that in principle all five permanent members had the right to be regarded as directly interested countries.
The Secretary said that he had understood that this question was to be left open for further discussion and asked Mr. Molotov if he would outline his position once again so that he might communicate it to Mr. Dulles.
Mr. Molotov said he had in mind the conclusion of at least three trusteeship agreements during the present session of the General Assembly in order to permit the establishment of the Trusteeship Council; that they should agree on the principle of the right of the five permanent members of the Trusteeship Council to be regarded as directly interested countries; and an agreement on the question of Security Council approval on the question of military bases in trusteeship territories. He added that an exchange of letters would merely deal with the right of any one of the five to declare its interest in any trust area but that the actual determination of how this right would be applied in specific cases and what other countries could be regarded as directly interested, could be left for future consideration.
The Secretary said again that he would talk to Mr. Dulles on the subject.82
[Page 708][Here follows discussion of other subjects, as noted on the agenda list.]
- For documentation on the New York meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers, November 4–December 12, 1946, see vol. ii, pp. 965 ff.↩
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This ended the informal United States–Soviet talks and on December 10 Mr. Dulles wrote the following to Mr. Novikov:
↩“My dear Mr. Ambassador,
“On December 6 I handed you a tentative suggestion with reference to ‘states directly concerned’ in the hope that this would meet the point of view which you had put forward in Subcommittee I of Committee IV and permit us to make an agreed report to the Subcommittee.
“I understand that Mr. Molotov yesterday told Mr. Byrnes that this suggestion was not acceptable to your government and since in any event it was only a tentative proposal, it should of course be considered to be withdrawn.” (IO Files, document US/A/C.4/33)