Memorandum, State Department Summary of Telegrams

Aide) 154 My OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF STATE WASHINGTON DECLASSIFIED E.O. 12065, Sec. 3-402 January 15, 1951 State Dept. Guidelines, March 6, 1982 By. DEB NLT, Date 9-4-85 TOP T SUMMARY OF TELEGRAMS USSR The British Foreign Office has given Embassy London a British re-draft of the US draft reply to the Soviet counter-proposals on holding a Council of Foreign Ministers. (It has also cabled the text to the British Embassy in Washington for transmission to the Department; Embassy London has not cabled us the text.) Commenting to an official of Embassy London on the re-draft the Foreign Office official stressed the desirability of: 1) avoiding propaganda tone, since it would be preferable for us to assume that the Soviet note represents a "serious diplomatic document"; 2) utilizing language which would not convey the impression that we necessarily accept the Soviet proposal that the meeting will be a CFM rather than a meeting of the four Foreign Ministers; and 3) not insisting that a quadripartite meeting for determining the agenda should be held in the US if the Soviets are otherwise agreeable, because of the adverse impres sion this might have upon public opinion in the West. The UK official received the French re-draft of our reply during the course of his conversation with our Em- bassy official, and therefore did not have an opportunity to study it in detail. He said he was disturbed, however, by the fact that the French allude to a CFM on three occasions, and he expressed the hope that they would agree to the less specific language con- tained in the British re-draft. The UK official stated that Bevin fully shares our view that tripartite talks should commence as soon as possi- ble, and feels that they should take place in Washington rather than New York, with Ambassador Frank's representing the British, since Ambassador Jebb is too busy with UN matters to act for the UK. T-PSERET