Department of State Atomic Energy Files
Mr. F. W. Marten, First Secretary, British Embassy, to Mr. R. Gordon Arneson, Special Assistant to the Under Secretary of State (Webb)
Dear Gordon: I spoke to you yesterday on the subject of the South African request for “a special position”.
2. I have now received from London further views on this subject. These can be summarised as follows:—
- (a)
- There are some indications that what the South Africans want is to be “a member of the club”, i.e. a member of the Combined Policy Committee on a par with Canada. In the British view we should make plain to the South Africans from the outset that there can be no question of their becoming members of the Combined Policy Committee and that Canadian membership of that body arises not from her position as a producer of uranium but from her wartime participation in the allied project for producing an atomic weapon and from the work being done at Chalk River.
- (b)
- We feel, however, that South Africa as a producer of uranium would be entitled to a position on a par with Belgium, i.e. she should have the same special position as Belgium has under the Agreement of 1944 and under the current conversations regarding the implementation of the 1944 Agreement.
- (c)
- In talking to the South Africans about “a special position” we should not, however, mention the Belgian Agreement or the Belgian negotiations, nor should we do anything to suggest that the concessions offered to them were equivalent to those accorded to the Belgians. Instead we should suggest that whatever we offered them in the way of a special position was merited by their position as a uranium producer. In point of fact what we offered them should correspond to what the Belgians have.
3. We understand that you may discuss the South African request for “a special position” when Dr. Donges visits Washington. In that case we believe it would be useful if a British representative could participate in the discussion.
4. We imagine that any discussion with Dr. Donges during his forthcoming visit to Washington will be largely exploratory. As regards further more formal negotiations regarding the South African “special position” we believe that the right forum would be Pretoria. The question is largely a political one for the South Africans and is being handled by their Ministry of External Affairs. We therefore believe that it could most suitably be discussed by the Union Ministry of External Affairs, the United States Ambassador, and the United Kingdom High Commissioner in South Africa.
5. I would be grateful for your views on this matter.
Yours ever,