892.61317/5–646: Telegram

The Chargé in Siam ( Yost ) to the Secretary of State

481. Rice agreement signed this morning. Substance released press today but full text being withheld until formally presented Assembly. Text being pouched.55

Yost

[In telegram 3991, May 14, 1946, the Department directed the Embassy in London to inquire of the British Foreign Office whether the United Kingdom would be willing, jointly with the United States, to approach the Siamese Government proposing Siamese membership on the Combined Siam Rice Commission, to be followed by joint United States–United Kingdom–Siam invitations to China and India, provided that the Siamese became members of the Commission and agreed to the invitations (892.61317/5–946).

The Foreign Office informed the Embassy that the Government of India was reluctant to accept the suggestion that Siam be brought into the Commission with priority over India (telegram 5583, May 31, from London, filed under 892.61317/5–3146).

The Department deemed this point of view unsatisfactory. It noted in telegram 4425, June 3, to London that the Tripartite Agreement had been negotiated on a basis of equality of the three Governments, that the inclusion of Siam on the Commission was a question to be decided by the United States, the United Kingdom, and Siam only, and that participation by any other government must be on the joint invitation of the three signatory Governments; it concluded that unless the British were willing to accept these proposals, it would [Page 970] be preferable to leave the Commission as it was (892.61317/6–346). On June 14, the Embassy in London reported in telegram 5971 that the Government of India had withdrawn its point of view and that the British Government was willing to accept the Department’s proposals (892.61317/6–1446).

The invitations to expand the membership of the Commission along these lines were accepted by the Siamese Government on July 12, by the Indian Government on September 21, and by the Chinese Government on December 27 (telegram 839, July 20 from Bangkok; letter of November 9 from the British Embassy; and telegram 2203, December 30, from Nanking, filed under 892.61317/7–2045, 11–946, and 12–3046), respectively.]

  1. Despatch 114, May 7, not printed; for texts of the Agreement between the United States, the United Kingdom, and Siam and of the notes exchanged the same day, see United Nations Treaty Series, vol. 99, p. 181, and vol. 157, p. 85. The Department’s press release of May 9 commenting on the Agreement is printed in Department of State Bulletin, May 19, 1946, p. 863.