740.00119 P.W./11–1246
Memorandum by the Chief of the Division of Japanese and Korean Economic Affairs (Martin) to the Assistant Secretary of State for Occupied Areas (Hilldring)
[Washington,] November 12, 1946.
- 1.
- In the course of the conversations which have been held between
the State Department and representatives of ten other Governments,
members of the Far Eastern Commission, reactions have been obtained
to the United States proposal to issue interim directives
accomplishing a reparations settlement. These reactions, all of
which were tentative and personal may be summarized as follows:
- A.
- No one offered a clear and positive proposal for a better method to handle the reparations problem.
- B.
- Only the Soviet and Australian representatives showed general dislike of procedures being contemplated by the United States Government.
- C.
- A substantial majority, though disposed to welcome the U.S. plan of action, questioned the authority of the United States Government to issue interim directives which would establish the final Japanese peacetime level of industry.
- 2.
- Therefore, it is recommended that the United States Government
adopt the following procedure:
- A.
- Recommend the establishment of a conference on Japanese
level of industry by and within the Far Eastern Commission
instructed to formulate recommendations for FEC ratification on the
inter-related problems of Japanese level of industry,
availability of assets for removal from Japan, and
procedures for their removal. Such a conference should:
- (1)
- obtain assignment of national representatives and assisting personnel with full authority and competence to reach prompt decisions on all aspects of the level of industry problem and to determine satisfactory procedures to govern relations between the Supreme Commander and claimant countries within Japan required for prompt and equitable execution of a reparations program affecting assets within Japan;
- (2)
- sit in continuous session until that job has been completed.
- B.
- Conduct consultations, in the manner prescribed in the memorandum approved by the Secretary of State on October 29, for the purpose of determining national percentage shares of reparations assets within Japan, methods of seizure and disposal of those external assets deemed available for reparations, and arrangements for expediting immediate interim deliveries, the results of which would be embodied in an interim directive issued to the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers and filed with the Far Eastern Commission.
- 3.
- It should be emphasized that a main purpose of our Reparations Conference proposal of July 2541 was to surmount the interminable delays which would have been inevitable in routine FEC handling, by delegates required to seek instructions from their governments on even minor points, of the complex level of industry problem. The proposal in 2A promises substantial success to the extent that we are able to persuade all participating countries, including the U.S., to assign to this task adequate personnel vested with adequate authority to permit real and full time negotiation around the table without the delays inherent in frequent references back for instructions. If the above condition can be fulfilled, a completed agreement could be promptly reached and would have, moreover, the incalculable advantage of representing a formal and responsible international decision on the basic question of Japan’s peacetime economic level. If prompt decisions are not reached in the Far Eastern Commission, eventual issuance of a United States interim directive could then be based upon full and formal exchange of governmental views which had been expressed in the Far Eastern Commission deliberations on this problem.