741.92/11–245
The British Embassy to the Department of State
Aide-Mémoire
His Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom have been considering the view expressed by the Department of State in the Aide-Mémoire which was presented to His Majesty’s Embassy in Washington on the 9th October, 1945.
Siamese Rice
It is proposed that rice will be purchased by the Siamese Government from the millers at a controlled price and then delivered to the rice unit free on board. The rice unit will ship the rice to destinations determined by the Combined Food Board allocations. But while the Siamese Government may thus incur the major part of the expense of acquiring rice for export, it is considered inevitable that the rice unit will incur certain expenses. The unit may have to engage in the procurement and distribution of bags, it will have to supervise milling, check weights and quality and arrange transport and shipment. The procedure for effecting payment for the rice is being further considered by His Majesty’s Government and their proposals will be communicated to the United States Government as soon as possible.
With regard to paragraph 4 of the State Department’s Aide-Mémoire, it is thought that circumstances may arise in which the rice unit will require urgent instructions on matters concerning the procurement and shipment of rice and it was thought that in urgent cases His Majesty’s Government should take the necessary decisions. The establishment in London of a Sub-Committee of the Eice Committee of the Combined Food Board charged with the programming of rice [Page 1365] exports from Siam within the framework of the Combined Food Board allocations, with the procurement of supplies for the industry and with the determination of price policy, should reduce the number of such cases to a minimum. It is not contemplated that His Majesty’s Government will resolve unilaterally differences of opinion between the American and British representatives within the rice unit.10
Military Annex
As the State Department are aware, His Majesty’s Government are prepared to omit Clause 13 of the Annex and to treat the question of a Military Mission as one for subsequent negotiation “with the Siamese Government.
With regard to the suggested substitution of “in as far as” for “as long” in Clause 14 (now Clause 13), His Majesty’s Government can readily give the United States Government assurance that the intention in this clause is simply that the measures indicated shall be enforced only in so far as they may be necessary in the judgment of the Allied Authorities for the purposes stated and with no other objective in view. His Majesty’s Government trust that the United States Government will be satisfied with this assurance since it is felt that to modify the wording as suggested would leave room for the misinterpretation by recalcitrant and obstructionist elements of the obligations to be assumed by Siam and of the authority to be vested in the Allied Authorities under, these clauses. His Majesty’s Government are agreeable however to widen the terms of Clause 14 to include a reference to Military matters. The clause as redrafted will read as follows:
“To control banks and businesses, foreign exchange and foreign commerce and financial transactions as required by the Allies for so long as may be necessary for the conclusion of matters of military, economic and financial concern to the Allies arising out of the settlement of the war with Japan.”
Heads of Agreement
It is not the intention of His Majesty’s Government that the new treaties of Commerce and Navigation referred to in paragraphs D2, D3, and D4 of the Heads of Agreement should be based on the principle of unilateral control. The principles in Clause 4 would be reciprocally applied. In this connection reference is invited to the provision in Clause 4 that the obligation imposed by it should lapse at the end of three years if no treaty has by then been concluded. In order therefore to make the meaning free from any doubt His [Page 1366] Majesty’s Government now propose to insert the words “reciprocal application of the” before the word “principles” in Clauses D2 and 3.
It will be recalled that the Aide-Mémoire presented to the State Department on the 29th September contained an assurance that His Majesty’s Government would interpret Clause D4 in a reasonable manner and that they would not seek to take advantage of the clause to determine the conditions relating to Siamese economy and trade in such a way as to confer any exclusive privileges on British nationals or secure any benefit which they would not consider it reasonable for United States nationals to obtain from the Siamese Government.
- The Department and the British Embassy exchanged further aide-mémoire on November 26 and December 10, not printed (the latter, Embassy No. G289/61/45), which dealt with various aspects of the operations of the Rice Commission (741.92/11–2645 and /12–1045, respectively).↩