Changes to the US Government Proposal regarding the Control Mechanism for Japan

Attachment Nº 1

CHANGES TO THE US GOVERNMENT PROPOSALS REGARDING THE CONTROL MECHANISM FOR JAPAN.

The Soviet Government considers it necessary to submit the following changes to the US Government proposals about a control mechanism for Japan.

1. In point 1, instead of the name, “Allied Military Council”, say “Allied Control Council or “Allied Control Commission”.

This change is dictated by the consideration that the main nature of its work should be reflected in the very name of the control mechanism. The name  “Allied Military Council” restricts the functions of the control body for Japan to purely military questions while this body will deal not only with military, but also with political, administrative, cultural, and economic questions. The name “Allied Military Council” does not take this fact into consideration.

2. In point 1, besides a change of the name of the Council, instead of the words:

“in order to consult with the Supreme Commander and give him advice with respect to implementing the terms of surrender, occupation, and control of Japan…”

say the following:

“in order to control the fulfillment of the terms of the surrender of Japan and in order to consult with and give advice to the Supreme Commander with respect to implementing the terms of surrender and occupation of Japan…”

This change is motivated by the following considerations.

After the inclusion of the word “control” of the American draft in point 1 the meaning of the expression “and control of Japan” remains unclear. This ambiguity needs to be eliminated, pointing out that the Allied Control Council (Allied Control Commission) is created to control the fulfillment of the surrender terms [by] Japan, as it says in the proposed change.

3. Add the following phrase to point 2:

“Each member of the Allied Control Council (Allied Control Commission) may be accompanied by a corresponding staff consisting of military and civilian representation”.

4. In point 3 instead of the words:

“He will meet and consult with the Council regarding orders on question of principle before they are issued if the urgent demands of the situation permit. His decisions on all questions will be controlling”, say the following:

“He will meet and consult with the Council regarding orders on question of principle before they are issued. When one of the Council members disagrees with the Supreme Commander (or his deputy) on questions of a principled nature like the question of a change of the manner of control over Japan or the question of the change of the composition of the Japanese government, the dissolution of the Japanese government and its replacement with another, the implementation of the decision of the Supreme Commander on these questions is suspended until these questions are coordinated between the governments or in the Far East Commission”.

This change has as its goal the introduction of clarity to the question regarding cases when differences arise in the Council between some Council members and the Supreme Commander on questions of principle. This change is proposed based on the right of each Council member to appeal to his government in such cases, envisioning that such differences ought to be eliminated by coordination between the governments or in the Far East Commission; however the decision of the Supreme Commander ought to be suspended until these questions are coordinated.

Moscow, 5 November 1945

Authenticated by: Potrubach

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