Office of the Historian

740.00119 EW/10–1946

The Secretary of State to the Soviet Minister for Foreign Affairs (Molotov)44

[New York, November 5, 1946.]

Dear Mr. Molotov: On October 1 you sent me a copy of your reply45 to Mr. Bevin’s letter of September 25 in connection with the proposal of Dr. Wang Shih-chieh of September 3 regarding the application of the Berlin and Moscow Agreements to the conclusion of the peace settlement with Germany. I understand that you have subsequently sent a letter to Dr. Wang in reply to his memorandum of September 3.

Since it does not appear necessary for us to decide this question at the present time, and since there seems to be some disagreement among [Page 1016] us on the reply to be sent to the Chinese Foreign Minister, I have also sent Dr. Wang an interim reply on behalf of my Government. I enclose a copy for your information.

Sincerely yours,

[
James F. Byrnes
]

  1. Foreign Minister Molotov’s reply to the Secretary of State, dated November 9, 1946, read as follows:

    “I have received the copy of your letter of November 5 to Dr. Wang Shih-chieh, concerning the procedure for the preparation of the Peace Treaty with Germany and the convocation of a Peace Conference.

    “I must say that the Soviet Government adheres to the view that there is no basis in this case to change the procedure already adopted in the preparation of the Peace Treaties with Italy, Rumania, Bulgaria, Hungary and Finland” (740.00119 EW/11–946)

    ↩
  2. Ante, p. 944.↩