740.00119 P.W./6–2246: Telegram
Ambassador Edwin W. Parley to the Acting Secretary of State66
urgent
[Received June 22—4:30 p.m.]
CX 62311. This is Repar Tokyo 9. I have today sent the following message to Secretary Byrnes in Paris.67
“From reports I have seen, one of the prime difficulties in the present Foreign Ministers meeting is the Soviet’s claim to Italian reparations. I have just come from Manchuria where the Soviets have incapacitated Manchuria of approximately $2,000,000,000 worth of industry by substantial stripping of strategic facilities and removal of component parts of industry in Manchuria. This they apparently excuse on the grounds that it is collection of war booty or war trophies. Certainly this removal could not be done on the theory that it was advance deliveries under future reparations settlements, as the Soviet Government cannot possibly sustain in international negotiations any substantial claim to reparations from Japan and certainly not from China.
From the official war record let me quote the following chronology of the war against Japan: August 6, first atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. August 9, Russia declared war on Japan. August 10, world received news of Japan’s acceptance of the Potsdam ultimatum in late evening. August 11, General MacArthur acknowledged the news of Japan’s acceptance. August 15, General MacArthur’s first message to the Japanese Government. August 19, C–54 plane carrying Japanese delegation arrived in Manila. September 2nd, formal signing of surrender terms.
It would seem to me that any premise of war booty must be based upon the fact that it would go to the country capturing, conquering, or occupying an enemy country, not one liberating an Allied country. If this theory prevails, three-fourths of all of Germany’s industry and all of Italian industry then belongs to the United States and the United Kingdom.
May I suggest as a possible solution, that the United States and the United Kingdom assert title to everything including all industry in Italy on the theory of war booty; then reconvey title to the Italian people thereby bypassing any claim the Soviets might assert. We captured practically all of the area we now occupy in Germany plus [Page 542] nearly half the territory the Soviets now occupy. The Soviets are most interested in receiving reparations from the Ruhr and other western zones. I further suggest that the United Kingdom, France and ourselves withhold any deliveries from the western zones in Germany on the theory that we are entitled to all of it from the war booty standpoint (following Soviet Manchurian policy). If Soviets claim Manchurian removals have been taken in the form of reparations, then they have taken equities in Manchuria belonging to the United States, the United Kingdom, China, and France. All of these countries have an equity in this equipment in the form of Japanese external assets, and three of these are the same countries occupying the western zones of Germany. Therefore, an accounting must be had.
I am convinced that the Soviet Government have taken more from Manchuria that did not belong to them than they have coming from the western zone of Germany. A report we are now compiling will give accurate figures on this subject.
For your own information, not only did the Soviet Government strip industry and incapacitate it delaying economic rehabilitation of the Far East for many years, but they have endangered the lives of many millions of people by creating a condition favorage [favorable?] for widespread epidemics, and have permanently impaired the development of natural resources so badly needed in the war torn hungry world by removing vital power equipment in strategic areas needed to supply water and to maintain sewage systems and to prevent mines from flooding. All of this done in Manchuria, and none of it in northern Korea where their pattern is different and where we notice no substantial removals.”
- Sent through military channels to President Truman, Acting Secretary of State Acheson, Justin R. Wolf (member of Mr. Pauley’s staff, Washington), and General MacArthur.↩
- The Secretary of State was attending meetings of the Council of Foreign Ministers at Paris, June 15–July 12. See also Ambassador Pauley’s letter of June 22 from Tokyo to President Truman, p. 706.↩