Evening star., 1945-10-06

Soviet delegation took the position that
the decision Of the Council on Septem-
Der II violated the Berlin agreement.
1t will be recalled that the Berlin
agreement set up council Of the So
Wet Union, Great Britain, France. China
and the United States to undertake the
necessary preparatory work for the
peace settlements. 1t provided that
the Council should draw up with a view
to their submission to the United Ma
tions peace treaties with Italy, Roma
mia, Bulgaria, Hungary and Finland
1t provided that in the discharge of
these tasks the Council will be composed
OF members representing those states
which were signatory to the terms of
surrender imposed upon the enemy
state concerned, and for the purpose of
the Italian settlement, France should be
regarded as signatory to the surrender
terms.
The Berlin agreement further pro-
vided that other members of the Coun-
Gil Will be invited to participate when
matters directly concerning them are
under discussion
Misunderstanding Cited.
This distinction between members of
the Council who were parties to the
surrender terms and those who were
not, was not part of the original Amer
ican proposal and was reluctantly ac-
cepted by us. We were fully aware that
a member would not have the right to
vote If not a party to the surrender
terms, but we understood from the eX-
chance of f1,a %ab
members would be allowed, to particle
pate IN all discussions in the Council.
1t certainly never occurred to Presi-
dent Truman or myself that any of the
f1ve members of the council who are
also the five permanent members of
the United Nations Security Council,
which is charged with the responsibility
for maintaining the peace which the
Council of Foreign Ministers is prepar-
ing, would not be invited to be present
during the discussions of the treaties.
Such exclusion of two permanent
members of the Security Council would
not promote the harmonious relations
essential to the success of the United
Nations organization.
The Soviet delegations position was
not simply that they wished to with
draw the invitation to China and
France to participate without right to
vote. Their position was that it was
beyond the authority OF the states
slgnatory to the surrender terms to ex-
tend the invitation
Although this construction Of the
Berlin Agreement did not accord with
the understanding of the American
delegation or the British delegation or
the President of the United States or
the Prime Minister of Great Britain,
the Soviet delegation insisted that they
could no longer discuss treaty matters
IN the presence of members who were
not parties to the surrender terms.
Therefore, the meetings of the Coun-
Gil for number of days were confined
to the discussion of other items on the
agenda such as international inland
waterways, the Ruhr, acceleration of
German reparations, restitution, rep
aration of Allied nationals and the Aus
trian food supply.
When the general items on the agenda
were exhausted, agreement had not been
reached for solving the procedural OBJ
stacles which, in the view of the Soviet
delegation, made further discussion OF
treaty matters impossible until the de-
cision of September II should be re-
scinded.
Compromise Sought.
Since it had always been my view that
the Berlin agreement contemplated a
broadening out of the participants be-
fore the final conclusion of a peace
treaty, I sought to find compromise
along that line.
The Berlin agreement expressly pro-
vided in section of the article estab-
fishing the Council that the Council may
adapt its procedures to the particular
problems under discussion; that in some
cases it may hold It's own discussions
prior to the participation of other in
terested states; and in other cases 1t
may convoke a formal conference OF
states interested in particular problems.
therefore proposed, with consider
able reluctance, that we ask our French
and Chinese colleagues to accept the
position of the Soviet delegation that
the preparatory and exploratory work
of the Council for the peace settlements
be confined to the signatories of the
surrender terms in question, provided
that at the same time it should be
agreed that truly representative peace
conference should be convoked before
the end of the year. To insure the call
ing of such a conference we thought
that France and China, in the interest
of peace, might make even this sacrifice.
This conference would be convoked
for the purpose of considering the peace
treaties with Italy, Romania, Bulgaria,
Hungary and Finland. To the confer
ence would be invited r
ID The five members of the Council
of Foreign Ministers who are also
the five permanent members of the
United Nations Security Council; se
Cd All European members of the
United Nations: 81.
90 All non-European members of
the United Nations which supplied
substantial military contingentS in
the war against the European MEM
bers of the Axis.
The American delegation took the po-
sition that, in an interdependent, demo-
cratic world, peace cannot be the exclu-
siye concern of a few presently powerful
states; that unless we were to revert
to world of isolationism none of the
states which We wanted invited to the
peace conference could be said to- be
not directly concerned in the peace.
We urged that those states, both large
and small, which had fought and suf-
fered in the war must make the peace.
This has been peoples war and 1t must
be a peoples peace. -
Soviet Blocked Agreement. 3
The Soviet delegation stated, however,
that they could not agree to the Amer
lean proposal for peace conference
until they had returned to Moscow and
had personal consultations with their
government.