894.85/8–1246
The Department of State to the British Embassy
Memorandum
In reply to the British Embassy’s Aide-Mémoire of 12 August, the views of the United States Government are, as assumed by the British Government, that there is no relation between the system of allocation envisaged for the Japanese naval fleet and that which should apply to those units of the Japanese merchant and fishing fleet which may be determined to be available for reparations.
It also continues to be the view of the United States Government, as stated in its Aide-Mémoire of 30 January,1 that decisions with respect to the disposition of the Japanese merchant and fishing fleet should be made by an “Allied reparations commission operating under general policies laid down by the Far Eastern Commission.”
It is also the position of the United States Government that the distribution of Japanese merchant and fishing vessels should take into account the losses of shipping by Japanese action of all countries which were engaged in the war with Japan.
The United States Government is happy to be able to agree with the British Government on this point and to learn that the British Government concurs in the view of the United States Government as contained [Page 565] in Aide-Mémoire of 30 January with respect to machinery by which allocation of Japanese merchant and fishing vessels available for reparations should be handled.