740.00119 EW/2–247
The Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Soviet
Union (Molotov) to the
Secretary of State
11
[Translation]
Moscow, January 30,
1947.
On January 16 of this year I received a letter from the Minister of
Foreign Affairs of China, Mr. Wang
Shih-chieh in which is set forth the point of view of the
Chinese Government on questions of procedure in connection with the
peace settlement for Germany and Austria. It is understood that you
received a similar letter.
As will be seen from the attached draft of my reply, the Soviet
Government does not consider it possible to agree with the point of view
set forth in the cited letter from Mr. Wang
Shih-chieh since this point of view does not correspond
to the decision of the Berlin Conference. Before sending my reply, I
consider it necessary to ascertain the viewpoint of the members of the
Council of Foreign Ministers concerning this question.
I would be grateful to you if you would be so kind as to inform me if you
agree with the basic theses of my attached reply to Mr. Wang Shih-chieh or if you have any
observations.12
At the same time, I am sending a similar message to Mr. Bevin and Mr. Bidault.
[Enclosure]
The Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Soviet
Union (Molotov) to
the Chinese Foreign Minister (Wang)
[Translation]
In reply to your communication, received in Moscow on January 16 of
this year, with regard to the procedure in connection with the peace
settlement for Germany, I consider it necessary again to set forth
the position of the Soviet Government concerning this question.
In the Berlin decisions, particularly in the section concerning the
establishment of the Council of Foreign Ministers,13 are
contained provisions relating to the order of preparation of the
peace settlement
[Page 149]
for
Germany. From these decisions it is clear that, for the solution of
this problem, the Council will be composed of members representing
those States which signed the conditions of the capitulation
dictated to Germany.
In regard to the convocation of the Conference for the consideration
of the draft peace treaty with Germany, clause “B”, article 3 of the
section concerning “the establishment of the Council of Foreign
Ministers” leaves no doubt that the convocation of the said
Conference must be made by the Council of Ministers composed of
those who signed the conditions of the capitulation with the given
enemy State. It appears to be self-evident that this clause embraces
such questions as the determination of the participants in the
forthcoming Peace Conference concerning Germany as well as the
determination of the procedure for invitations to this Conference.
It is also necessary to state that the Government of a country not
participating in the preparation of the peace treaty would find
itself in a difficult situation with regard to the determination of
questions relating to the convocation of the Peace Conference, in as
much as the date and other questions of the convocation of such
Conference are indissolubly linked with the termination of the
preparation for the peace settlement.
With regard to the preparation of the treaty with Austria the Council
of Foreign Ministers, meeting in New York, acted, as is entirely
natural, in a manner similar to the preparation of the other
treaties.
As regards the agenda of the forthcoming session of the Council of
Foreign Ministers in Moscow, it was determined by the Council on
December 12, 1946 in the form in which it was published in the
press.
