740.00119 Control(Japan)/9–445
The British Minister ( Sansom ) to the Director of the Office of Far Eastern Affairs ( Ballantine )72
Oral Communication to Mr. Ballantine—Sept. 4th, 1945
Mr. Balfour73 informed Mr. Dunn74 on August 30th75 that H.M. Government in the United Kingdom were communicating informally to the Governments of China and the U.S.S.R. their tentative proposals for an Allied Control Council to assist the Supreme Commander in Japan.76
Mr. Dunn suggested that, in view of the U.S. Government’s proposal of a Far Eastern Advisory Commission, H.M. Government might wish to defer such communication to those two Governments.
The Foreign Office now inform us that instructions had already been sent to our Ambassadors in Chungking and Moscow77 before Mr. Dunn’s suggestion was received; but desire us to say that, in communicating our ideas to the Chinese and Soviet Governments we have made it clear to them that we regard our proposals as a tentative basis for discussion only. Moreover, it is not our view that these proposals are necessarily incompatible with the view of the U.S. Government as explained by Mr. Dunn.
- Handed to Mr. Ballantine on September 4 by Sir George Sansom “as a record of an oral communication”.↩
- John Balfour, British Chargé.↩
- James Clement Dunn, Assistant Secretary of State for European, Far Eastern, Near Eastern, and African Affairs and Chairman of the State-War-Navy Coordinating Committee (SWNCC).↩
- See memorandum of August 30, p. 697.↩
- General of the Army Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers (SCAP), Japan.↩
- Sir Horace J. Seymour and Sir Archibald J. K. Clark Kerr, respectively.↩