740.00119 PW/5–2148
The French Ambassador ( Bonnet ) to the Under Secretary of State ( Lovett )
The Ambassador of France presents his compliments to His Excellency the Under Secretary of State and has the honor to communicate the following information:
The Far Eastern Commission having been unable to reach a decision on general policy with respect to Japanese reparations, the United States Government deemed it necessary, in February 1947, to make an emergency decision under Article III, par. 3 of the Commission’s terms of reference, to the effect of distributing part of the interim program, without further delay, among the countries that suffered from Japanese occupation.1 Now, France, whose Indo-Chinese territories were subject to Japanese aggression, was surprised at not having been included by the Government of the United States in such emergency distribution.
As a result, France has suffered in Indo-China a material loss and a loss of moral prestige which the current situation in Annam makes particularly trying. Since it is impossible for her to restore her machinery and equipment, Indo-China has, in any event, urgent need of the equipment represented by the reparations, which would be transferred direct to that territory.
The discussions of the Far Eastern Commission, which are being carried on under the difficult conditions known to the United States Government, have not yet made possible a way out of the impasse with respect to Japanese reparations. For this reason the French Government fails to understand by what considerations it, alone, of the Governments whose territories suffered Japanese aggression, could continue to be excluded from any emergency allotment. It therefore hopes that the United States Government will correct this omission at the earliest possible moment, and that it will give the French Government the benefit of an emergency allotment, as it has already deemed it necessary to do for China, the Netherlands, the Philippines, and the United Kingdom.
Mr. Henri Bonnet avails himself of this occasion to renew to the Honorable Robert A. Lovett the assurances of his very high consideration, and would appreciate it if the Under Secretary of State would [Page 973] be good enough to inform him of the action decided upon by the United States Government with reference to this note.
- See telegram 70, FEC 10, March 3, 1947, 4 p. m., to Tokyo, Foreign Relations, 1947, vol. vi, p. 366.↩