396.1/12–653
The Governments of the United States, the United Kingdom, and France to the Government of the Soviet Union 1
The US Government is glad to learn from the Soviet Government’s Note of November 26 that it is now prepared to take part in a meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the UK, US, France and the Soviet Union. It is its hope that this meeting will lead towards the reunification of Germany in freedom and to the conclusion of the Austrian State Treaty.
The US Government is confident that real progress towards the settlement of the German and Austrian questions, which are especially urgent, will contribute to the solution of other major international problems, including that of European security. In this connection, the US Government reaffrms that the voluntary association of the free countries of the Atlantic Alliance and the actions of certain European states for developing their prosperity and ensuring their joint security are exclusively defensive and a collective contribution to peace.
The Soviet Government has stated its desire to discuss the possibility of a Five-Power conference. The forthcoming meeting of the four Foreign Ministers will enable any participating Government to state its views on this question.
The US Government, having consulted with the German Federal Government and the German authorities in Berlin, proposes that the meeting of the four Foreign Ministers should begin on January 4, 1954, in the building of the former Allied Control Council in Berlin.
- The source text was approved by the Foreign Ministers at their third meeting on Dec. 6 (for a record of this meeting, see FM MIN 3, p. 1787) and was transmitted to Bonn in telegram 10 (telegram 2 to Berlin) from Bermuda, Dec. 6. This telegram was repeated to Washington, Paris, London, Moscow, and Vienna. The text was shown to Chancellor Adenauer and to Mayor Schreiber, who approved it, and delivered in Moscow to the Soviet Government on Dec. 8. For further documentation on this note and the Soviet note of Nov. 26, see volume vii .↩