740.00119 FEAC/4–3048
The Secretary of State to the Burmese Ambassador (So Nyun)1
The Secretary of State presents his compliments to His Excellency the Ambassador of Burma and has the honor to acknowledge receipt of his note of April 30, 19482 seeking the assistance and cooperation of this Government in obtaining Burma’s admission to the Far Eastern Commission.
The Terms of Reference of the Far Eastern Commission state: “The membership of the Commission may be increased by agreement among the participating Powers as conditions warrant by the addition of representatives of other United Nations in the Far East or having territories therein”. It is the unanimous view of the member delegates of the Far Eastern Commission that under this provision of its Terms of Reference the Commission does not possess the power to add to its [Page 766] number of representatives, as this is a matter for agreement among member governments.
The Secretary is pleased to inform the Ambassador that the United States Member of the Far Eastern Commission has been authorized to bring the request of the Government of Burma for admission to the Far Eastern Commission to the attention of the Commission and to utilize the machinery of the Commission as a means of polling the member governments on this question, the representatives on the Commission voting in such case as representatives of their governments rather than as members of the Commission. The United States Member has also been authorized to vote as the representative of his government for the admission of Burma as a member of the Far Eastern Commission.
The views of the member governments of the Far Eastern Commission will be forwarded to you as soon as possible.