800.014 Antarctic/3–2349
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Chief of the Division of Northern European Affairs (Hulley)
Mr. Meade1 came in at his request. He asked about the status of our proposal for a settlement in Antarctica. If it looks like dying, the British Government will contemplate reverting to its proposal to open discussions direct with Argentina and Chile for settlement of their respective conflicting claims,
I said that now that all the replies from the interested governments are in, we are re-examining the question in the light of their preponderantly negative reaction. It seems pretty clear that the plan is not likely to be accepted unless we exert strong pressure which to my mind would hardly be justified. I said we were considering a modified plan which would be confined largely to cooperation in the scientific sphere as a step toward our objective of a settlement of sovereignty claims. We had used the Chilean proposal2 as a basis and are making certain modifications. I did not know whether or not we would want to follow the Chilean idea of a moratorium on claims. It might be a month or two before I could be more definite.
He said he would report this in a letter to the Chief of the Latin American section of the Foreign Office and would also report my request that we be informed in advance of any definite British plan to proceed with direct negotiations with Chile and Argentina,
He asked again about our plans to announce our claims and I told him that we still had this in mind and that it could happen this year. However, the timing had not been decided. I outlined some of the difficulties in my own mind such as whether possible disadvantages, which might include immediate Soviet claims and irritation of Argentina [Page 796] and other present claimants, would outweigh conjectural advantages such as a stimulation of the claimants to give more favorable consideration to our plan for a settlement. He commented on the recent Russian Geographic Society announcement3 and we agreed that this had no official standing and no official notice should be taken of it.
He said that if we did decide on a new approach of any kind, he would appreciate being informed of it at as early a stage as possible. I said we would continue consulting with him as we have done for over a year.
- Charles A. G. Meade, Counsellor of the British Embassy.↩
- In July 1948 Caspar D. Green of the Division of Northern European Affairs visited Santiago to discuss Antarctic questions with Chilean Foreign Ministry officials. In the course of these discussions, the principal Chilean representative, Professor Julio Escudero Guzman, a former Legal Adviser in the Chilean Foreign Ministry and an unofficial consultant to the Ministry, offered a plan for a joint declaration by nations interested in Antarctica which would freeze current legal rights and interests for a period of five or ten years. For documentation on the Green mission and the Chilean (Escudero) proposal, see Foreign Relations, 1948, vol. i, Part 2, pp. 962 ff.↩
- See footnote 1 to Hulley’s memorandum of conversation, supra.↩