694.001/4–651
The Secretary of State
to the Secretary of Defense (Marshall)1
secret
Washington, April 6,
1951.
My Dear Mr. Secretary: Since my letter to
you of April 5, 1951,2 the British
Ambassador has called on us and informed us of the views of his
Government with respect to possible security arrangements in the
Pacific. The position is, briefly, that the British Government
absolutely opposes a single arrangement which would bring together
Japan, the Philippines, Australia, New Zealand, and the United
States. It strongly opposes a single arrangement which would bring
together
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the latter four.
It sees no objection to a tri-partite arrangement between Australia,
New Zealand and the United States, and a similar and simultaneous
bi-lateral arrangement between the Philippines and the United
States. The Ambassador indicated that, in the last analysis, if the
United States found itself unable, for what seemed adequate reasons,
to proceed by means of simultaneous tri-partite and bi-lateral pacts
as indicated in the last preceding sentence, the United Kingdom
might in the end recede from its position as regards a
quadri-partite pact. It is, however, evident that to seek this
solution would involve considerable delay.
The views of this Department remain as expressed in my letter of
yesterday. Since, however, we are now in a position to act with
knowledge of what the U.K. position is, and in view of the
importance of some prompt public statement, I suggest that in
conjunction with the memorandum for the President, suggested by my
letter of April 5, he also be requested to make a public statement
along the lines of the enclosed draft.
From the standpoint of this Department there would be great advantage
to the entire Pacific situation if such a statement could be made by
the President by the latter part of next week. Also, if it is to be
made, there should be some advance notice given to the Governments
of Australia, New Zealand and the Philippines,
I will appreciate an early expression of the views of the Department
of Defense with reference to the foregoing.
Sincerely yours,
[Enclosure]
Draft Presidential Public Statement
In connection with the re-establishment of peace with Japan, the
Governments of Australia and New Zealand have indicated their
interest in an arrangement with the United States, pursuant to
Articles 51 and 52 of the United Nations Charter, which would
make clear that no one of the three would be indifferent to an
armed attack on the other in the Pacific; which would establish
consultation to strengthen security on the basis of continuous
and effective self-help and mutual aid, and which would assure
consultation and cooperation of planning with other nations in a
position to contribute to the security of the Pacific area and
with other regional associations of which one or more of the
parties is a member.
The possibilities of such an arrangement were fully explored by
Mr. John Foster Dulles at Canberra, Australia, and Wellington,
New Zealand.
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At Manila, President Quirino and at Washington, Foreign Minister
Romulo of the Philippine Republic3 indicated the desire of their
Government to enter into an arrangement with the United States
similar to that above described, and which would supplement the
existing arrangements pursuant to which the United States is
accorded certain military operating rights and facilities in the
Philippines.
The United States maintains and expects to continue to maintain
its armed forces in the Ryukyus, particularly at Okinawa, and in
connection with the Japanese Peace Treaty we are discussing with
the Japanese Government the implementation of its expressed
desire for post-treaty security arrangements.
The possibility of arrangements along the lines indicated has
been informally discussed with the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee and the Foreign Affairs Committee of the House and I
have now asked the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Defense
and Mr. Dulles, as my Special Representative in relation to the
Japanese peace settlement and related matters, to pursue further
these matters concurrently with the prosecution of the other
negotiations necessary to bring the Japanese peace settlement to
a satisfactory conclusion.
The Government of Indonesia has been informed of the pending
discussions and of the desire of the United States to take its
wishes and interests into account. [This reference to Indonesia
is subject to further consideration.]4
We believe that the series of arrangements outlined above would
strengthen the fabric of peace in the whole Pacific Ocean area,
where security is strongly influenced by sea and air power. We
believe that the steps contemplated are natural initial steps in
the consolidation of peace in that area and also will contribute
to the building of universal peace as sought by the United
Nations and to which great goal the sacrificial efforts of our
nation are now being largely dedicated.
