740.0011 PW (Peace)/7–1547
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Deputy Director of the Office of Far Eastern Affairs (Penfield)
| Participants: | Sir John Balfour, Minister, British Embassy |
| Mr. Graves, Counselor, British Embassy | |
| Mr. Armour, A–A98 | |
| Mr. Penfield, FE |
Sir John and Mr. Graves called to deliver the attached reply99 to our proposal for a meeting to discuss the Japanese peace settlement.
[Page 471]In reply to an inquiry they expressed the opinion that the statement that “questions of policy and principle should be determined first on the Ministerial level before deputies and experts proceed to the task of examining the Japanese peace treaty in detail” should be interpreted as meaning that the British Government feels that the first meeting to discuss the Japanese peace treaty should be on a Ministerial level. They promised, however, to obtain clarification on this point.
After some general discussion of the subject, Mr. Armour and Sir John departed for the Under Secretary’s office. Later, Mr. Graves expressed his personal opinion to Mr. Penfield that a meeting between the end of the Canberra conference and the opening of the UN General Assembly Session on September 15 would be practicable and that the suggestion for a preliminary meeting of deputies “has merit”.