BIG FOUR TREATY DRAFTS

Greymouth Evening Star, 1 August 1946, Page 8

BIG FOUR TREATY DRAFTS

Five Main Points of Disagreement Terms Placed Before Paris Conference LONDON, July 31. The texts of the agreed clauses in the drafts for the five peace treaties between the Allied Nations and Italy, Rumania, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Finland,'show that the Eig Four Foreign Ministers disagreed principally on: 1. The exact constitution of the Free Territory of Trieste. , 2. On the methods whereby, and the extent to which. • the United Nations and their nationals should be compensated for losses of property in enemy countries arising out of the war. 3. On Russian resistance to British, and in some cases to American, demands for closer definition of their economic and civil aviation, rights in former enemy countries. 4. -Over the Danube settlement. .5. Over Hungary’s reparation payments. The drafts of the treaties, as far as they are agreed upon by the Big Four, have now to be considered by the Paris Conference. The clauses of the Italian and Rumanian treaties were published yesterday. Those for Bulgaria, Hungary, and Finland are as follows:— BULGARIA. Armed Forces. The treaty for Bulgaria restricts her army to 55,000. plus anti-aircraft and artillery units, with 5000 men: the navy to 3500 men and a total tonnage 1 of 7250; the air force 1o 90 aircraft, of which not more than 70 may be combat types, with 5200 personnel. Compensation for Losses. Bulgaria must compensate Jugoslavia and Greece for losses resulting from military operations and occupation, but only in part, in view of Bulgaria’s subsequent warring against Germany. The amounts are to be fixed after the Big Four consult with the Jugoslav and Greek Governments. Frontiers. The frontiers are fixed as those ot January 1, 1941. HUNGARY. Frontiers. The frontiers between Hungary and Austria, Hungary and Jugoslavia, and Hungary and Rumania, are defined as those existing on January 1. 1938, thus annulling in the lastnamed case the Vienna Award of August 30, 1940. The Russian-Hungarian frontier from the point common to those two States and Rumania, to the point common to the two States and Czechoslovakia, shall be along the Czech-Hungarian frontier, as it existed on January 1, 1938.

Armed Forces. The treaty restricts the Hungarian army to 65,000, including anti-air-craft and river flotilla personnel and the air force to 90 aeroplanes, ineluding not more than 70 combat types, with 5,000 personnel.

Reparations. The treaty provides that Hungary shall pay . Russia 200,000,000 United States dollars m reparations, and Czechoslovakia and Jugoslavia 100,000,000 United States dollars, m the’form of machinery, river craft, and grain; but, in view of the deterioration of Hungary’s economic conditions, the United States reserves the right to reopen the reparations Question at the Peace Conference.

FINLAND.

Frontiers. ' The treaty restores the frontiers existing on January 1, 1941, except that Finland returns the province oi PetScimo, which Russia voluntaiily ceded to Finland under the treaties of October 14, 1920, and March 12, 1940. ' 4 „ Finland confirms the lease to Russia lor 50 years of the Hango peninsula at a rental of 5,000,000 Finnish marks yearly, for the establishment of a Russian naval base in the'Pork-kala-Udd area. The Aaland islands are to remain demilitarised. Armed Forces. , The Finnish army is restricted to 34,000, the navy to 4500 tons, with 10.000 personnel, and the air force to 60 aircraft and 3000 personnel. R Finland is to pay Russia 300,000,000 dollars in reparations, in the form of timber, paper, cellulose, and machinery. COI4MON CLAUSES. Clauses common to all the treaties: 1. Provide that each country shall accord freedom of expression and religion, undertake to secure the apprehension and surrender of war criminals and quislings, forbid organisations ot Fascist types, and free all persons confined for helping the United Nations, recognise the other four treaties, and accept the arrangements for liquidating the League of Nations and the Permanent Court ol International Justice. 2. Forbid military training 01. all personnel not included in each country’s permitted armed forces; forbid the possession and construction 01, or experiments with, bombing aircraft, self-propelled or guided missiles, sea-mines of a non-contact type, torpedoes, submarines, and specialised assault craft; and forbid the acquisition or manufacture of aircraft of German or Japanese design or embodying major assemblies thereof. 3. Compel eaoh country to place at the disposal of all the Allied Governments all excess war material ol Allied origin, and at the disposal of the British, American, and Russian Governments all excess war material of its own manufacture. 1 4. Provide that each country undertakes to pay the cost of repatriating war prisoners held by the Allies; undertakes to return property removed from United Nations territories; undertakes to restore to the United Nations and to their nationals legal rights interests, and to exempt such nationals and their property •from 'any exceptional taxes for the purpose of meeting charges arising from the par; undertakes to waive claims against Allied nations arising out of the war.

6. Provide that each country recognises that the heads of the British, Russian, and American diplomatic missions in its capital repre-

sent the Allied nations for the execution of the treaties for a maximum of IS months from the signing of them. DISPUTED CLAUSES. Some of the disputed clauses are common to all or most of 'the five treaties. Britain and America propose that Italy, Rumania, Hungary, and Bulgaria should afford all the United Nations an equal chance to obtain internal commercial aviation rights in their territories, but in each case Russia “sees no reason for the inclusion of this.”

Dealing with the Danube issue, Britain and America tendered a sixpoint proposal for inclusion in the Rumanian, Hungarian, and Bulgarian treaties, providing mainly for free navigation on terms of equality on the Danube and its tributaries and. canals for nationals, merchant ships, and goods from all States. Britain also proposed that a conference should be convened within six months after the treaties come into, force, to establish a new permanent international regime for the Danube.

Russia held that the Danube question could not be solved by the peace treaties with Rumania, Hungary, and Bulgaria without the participation of the Danubian. States, such as Czechoslovakia and Jugoslavia. Russia proposed adding to the Italian treaty clause which grants to citizens of the United Nations most-favoured-nation treatment in matters of commerce, industry, and so on, a phrase excluding certain branches where private enterprise would not be allowed. Britain, America, and France agreed to this principle, where the business was an Italian State monopoly, but wanted the most-favoured-nation principle extended to cases where foreign participation was allowed. 'The Western Powers proposed that disputes about a treaty's execution or interpretation should be referred to the four ambassadors, and that after two months, if they were not resolved, should be referred to the International'Court of Justice. Russia suggested that a settlement of such disputes should first be sought by direct diplomatic negotiations, and that they should then be referred to the ambassadors, who would not be restricted by a time limit. Russia proposed that the rights of Rumania, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Finland to their property in the territory of the Allied and associated Powers should be restored when the treaties were in force. The Western Powers disagreed. They suggested [that Allied nations should be allowed ito seize all former enemy property within their territories, and that the r'ormer enemy governments should compensate their nationals whose property was thus taken. OTHER DISAGREEMENTS. Other’ clauses of the draft treaties on which the Big Four Foreign Ministers did not agree follow: — 1. The United States proposes, for insertion after the Italian treaty clause defining the territory east of the French Line which Italy cedes to Jugoslavia, an addition minutely detailing the boundary. 2. The United States proposes for insertion after the clause defining the frontier between Italy and the Free Territory of Trieste, an addition minutely detailing the boundary. 3. The United States proposes that a Security Council representative shall be added to the Boundary Commission comprising Jugoslav and Italian representatives. 4. The United States proposes that the Boundary Commission’s expenses shall, be borne by the two Governments and the Security Council. .5. The United States proposes that the Boundary Commission shall be empowered to depart up to half a kilometre from the French Line, so as to adjust to local geographical and economic conditions, provided that no village or no town of more than 500 inhabitants, no important railways or highways, and no major power or water supply shall be placed under sovereignty contrary to the treaty’s delimitations. 6. The United States proposes tnat any State to which territory is transferred shall guarantee all persons within that territory the enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms, regardless of race, sex, language, or religion. . 7. Britain, under the Finnish treaty’s economic clauses, proposes that where United Nations property cannot be returned or where a United Nations national has suffered loss or injury to property, Finland shall compensate the owner by a sum sufficient at the date of payment to purchase similar property or make good the loss or damage suffered.

SOME SURPRISING POINTS IN TREATIES LONDON, July 31. The diplomatic correspondent or The Times says: “It is fair to say that the agreement among the Foreign Ministers overshadows the loose ends of disagreement. “There are some surprising points. For instance, there appears to be no general principle governing the return of prisoners to their countries. Reparations take priority over the restoration of property and the payment of compensation to British and other foreign claimants.” “The military clauses of the Italian treaty are primarily designed to remove the danger of Italian domination of important sea routes,” says the military correspondent of the Daily Telegraph. “The demilitarisation of Sicily, Sardinia, Pantellaria, and Lampedusa, and the forfeiture of Cyrenaica, leave Italy powerless to close the Mediterranean narrows. “The cession of the Dodecanese to Greece has removed a major obstacle to free passage through the Aegean en route to the Straits. The forfeiture of Eritrea and Italian Somaliland has removed a possible threat to free passage through the Red Sea. ‘'The embargo on the building of bases in the Apulian Peninsula and the Gulf of Venice, and the surrender or demilitarisation of the Adriatic islands, ensures free traffic through the Straits of Otranto to and from Trieste.” BEVIN MAY BE ABSENT FOR SOME WEEKS LONDON, July 31. The Daily Express says _ that Mr. Bevin’s illness is more serious than was thought, and it may be weeks before the doctors let him return to work.