740.0011 PW (Peace)/8–2947
The Embassy of the Soviet Union to the Department of State 44
Aide-Mémoire
In reply to the aide-mémoire of the Secretary of State of the United States of America of August 13 [12], 1947 concerning the convening of an 11-Power Conference to draw up a peace treaty with Japan, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the U.S.S.R. communicates that on the following grounds the Soviet Government considers as unfounded the reasons advanced by the Government of the United States against a preliminary consideration of the question of convening a conference [Page 510] to draw up a peace treaty with Japan by the Council of the Ministers for Foreign Affairs of the Four Powers, the Soviet Union, United States of America, Great Britain, and China.
It is known that the Council of Ministers for Foreign Affairs was established by the Potsdam Decision to carry on the necessary preparatory work for the peace settlement. This decision does not in the least envisage the restriction of this work only to a peace settlement in relation to the countries of Europe. The composition of the Council of Foreign Ministers itself points to the contrary. The inclusion in it of a representative of China is evidence that questions of a peace settlement in relation to Japan are also within the competence of the Council of Ministers for Foreign Affairs.
This circumstance is also recognized by the Government of the United States of America, in as much as in its aide-mémoire of August 13, 1947 it is pointed out that the Council of Ministers for Foreign Affairs was constituted on a basis which would have permitted its use for the preparation of a treaty of peace with Japan. However, this recognition in the aide-mémoire of the United States of America is accompanied by a stipulation of an arbitrary character to the effect that the use of the Council for the preparation of a treaty of peace with Japan could take place only on the condition that the members of the Council subsequently agreed to this. At the same time, as an acquaintance with the text of the Potsdam Decision shows, such a stipulation is not included in this text.
The Soviet Government cannot accept this stipulation since, as is evident from the text of Section A of the Potsdam Decision for the establishment of the Council of Ministers for Foreign Affairs, there is only one stipulation in the Decision according to which it is necessary to reach a supplementary agreement between the Governments participating in the Council only in connection with the consideration of other questions apart from question in the peace settlement.*
The special interest of the Soviet Union, the United States of America, Great Britain, and China in questions concerning the postwar situation in Japan was recognized by the fact that at the Moscow Conference in 1945 the United States of America, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union reached an agreement, to which China subsequently adhered, that these four countries would participate in the Allied Council for Japan and that the Far Eastern Commission in Washington [Page 511] would adopt its decisions with the mandatory concurrence of the representatives of the four above-mentioned powers. The reference to this decision of the Moscow Conference which was made in the previous note of the Soviet Government was not answered in the note of the United States of August 13. Nevertheless, the sense of this decision of the Moscow Conference cannot be subject to misinterpretation.†
In view of the above, the Soviet Government continues to maintain the point of view set forth in its reply of July 22, 1947 and insists that the question of convening a conference to draw up a treaty of peace with Japan be preliminarily considered at the Council of Ministers for Foreign Affairs composed of representatives of the Soviet Union, United States of America, Great Britain, and China.
- The text was published in Moscow on August 31, 1947.↩
- Translator’s note: “The reference is apparently to the first paragraph of Section II of the Potsdam Communiqué reading: ‘The Conference reached an agreement for the establishment of a Council of Foreign Ministers representing the five principal powers to continue the necessary preparatory work for the peace settlements and to take up other matters which from time to time may be referred to the Council by agreement of the Governments participating in the Council.’ ”↩
- Translator’s note: “The reference is apparently to paragraph 2, Article V, part II, of the Communiqué of the Moscow Conference in 1945 reading as follows: ‘The Commission may take action by less than unanimous vote provided that action shall have the concurrence of at least a majority of all representatives including the representatives of the four following Powers: the United States, United Kingdom, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, and China.’ ”↩