694.001/4–1950
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Director of the Office of Northeast Asian Affairs (Allison)
Subject: Japanese Peace Treaty
| Participants: | Mr. H. A. Graves, Counselor, British Embassy |
| Mr. W. Walton Butterworth, Assistant Secretary of State | |
| Mr. John M. Allison, Director, Office of Northeast Asian Affairs |
Mr. Graves called at his request to inquire whether or not there was anything Mr. Butterworth could tell him prior to the opening meeting1 in London of the Commonwealth Committee on a Japanese Peace Treaty. Mr. Butterworth pointed out that the Department had been wrestling with the problems outlined in the aide-mémoire the Secretary had given the British Ambassador on Christmas Eve and that, while there was nothing definite he could tell him at this time, the Department had not been idle, and everyone, including the Secretary, hoped that it would be possible to give the British a more definite indication of our thinking, if not at the opening of the Commonwealth Committee deliberations, at least at the time the Secretary sees Mr. Bevin in London next month. Mr. Butterworth explained that shortly after the Joint Chiefs returned from Japan, where they had discussed the matter with General MacArthur, they had departed for Europe and hence it had not been possible to come to any final agreement as yet with them.
Mr. Graves asked for suggestions as to what the Commonwealth Committee might most usefully concern itself with in the absence of any definite indication of United States views. Mr. Butterworth recalled Mr. Graves’ report of a conversation with Mr. Voorhees of the Department of the Army in which Mr. Voorhees had, according to Mr. Graves, expressed the concern of the military over the legal position the Soviet Union would be in should it not sign a peace treaty with Japan which was signed by other members of the FEC and the possibility that the USSR would use its position to harass Japanese shipping and fishing vessels on the high seas. Mr. Graves seemed to feel that the USSR would govern its actions more by its assessment of the power relationship of itself and the United States, rather than by the strict legalities of the situation, but it was agreed that this possibility might be one which could be explored by the Commonwealth Committee. In this connection, it was further suggested that [Page 1175] the Commonwealth Committee might look into the whole problem of proceeding with a peace conference either without the USSR in attendance from the beginning or one from which the USSR withdrew during the course of the conference. It was made clear to Mr. Graves that the United Kingdom was well aware of the difficult security problems involved and that it would be helpful to the United States to have the thinking of the Commonwealth on some of these problems. Mr. Butterworth emphasized in conclusion that, while every effort was being made to obtain a firm United States Government position which could be communicated to the United Kingdom in the very near future, he could not give any assurance that such would be possible.
- The Commonwealth Working Party on a Japanese Peace Treaty met in London from May 1 through May 17.↩