740.00119 Council/3–1047: Telegram
The Ambassador in the Soviet Union ( Smith ) to the Acting Secretary of State
[Received March 10—5:54 p.m.]
741. Delsec 1288. For the President and Acting Secretary Acheson from Marshall.2 The opening meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers convened this afternoon with Molotov,3 Bidault,4 Bevin5 and myself present. [Here follows discussion of procedural matters.]
Molotov then proposed that the agenda include an information report by each of the four signatory powers to the Moscow Declaration as to the fulfillment of promises contained in the declaration as regards China.6 I stated that the submission of such a report appeared to be a reasonable request but that I was concerned as to just how China would be represented at the discussions. Molotov stated that since China was not a signatory of the Moscow Conference he saw no reason why they should be represented. (I do not think such report should be rendered to these four Ministers, that is, to this Council, but only to Molotov and Bevin.)
… Mr. Molotov then asked if I agreed to include the China problem in the agenda, and I stated that I wished to think it over further and would report tomorrow. …
. . . . . . .
Smith
- George C. Marshall, Secretary of State.↩
- Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Molotov, Soviet Minister of Foreign Affairs.↩
- Georges Bidault, French Minister for Foreign Affairs.↩
- Ernest Bevin, British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.↩
- Section IV of the communiqué” on the Moscow Conference of the Three Foreign Ministers, December 27, 1945; Department of State Bulletin, December 30, 1945, p. 1030, or Foreign Relations, 1945, vol. ii, pp. 815, 821.↩