740.00119 PW/3–746: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Embassy in China
422. For General Marshall. I appreciate receiving your message12 in regard to repatriation of Japanese from Manchuria, and suggest that procedure (a) mentioned by you is more likely to produce satisfactory results than procedure (b) because I believe this is a matter which can be best understood and handled on the spot rather than through Foreign Office channels.
For your information, the Soviets informed me by memorandum of Dec 21 in Moscow13 that Soviet troops in due time disarmed all the Jap troops in Manchuria and evacuated them as war prisoners to Soviet territory.
With regard to Jap civilians, I am in complete agreement with your idea of making offer to the Soviets of shipping facilities for their repatriation because I consider it highly desirable that they be removed from Manchuria as soon as possible but I do not believe that we should make an issue of the matter at this time should the Soviets prove reluctant to accept the offer.