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34.

No doubt most of the ground already covered in this Paper will be touched on during the talks in London or Washington, and agreement may be reached on some of the broader conclusions without reference to the Far Eastern conversations, The particular question which is likely most to affect the discussions in the Far East is, however, the disposition of the American battlefleet, since the strategical conversations in the Far East will turn very largely upon what Americal naval forces will be available there.

35.

We consider that we should press the Americans strongly, in the conversations in London or Washington, to concentrate a powerful battlefleet in the Far East. There may well be a public clamour in the United States for the maintenance of a battlefleet in the Atlantic in the event of war; but we feel that the requirements of the Far East should come first.

36. Our representatives at the conversations in the Far East will not be competent to enter to detailed discussions about the economic side of the war, and we consider that economic questions should be reserved for discussion at the London or Washington conversations,

Recommendations.

Preparations to be made prior to the Conversations.

37.

We recommend:-

(a) that there should be two series of conversations

(b)

i.

ii.

in the United Kingdom and the

United States, to consider the

broader implications of the effect of American participation against Germany and Italy on the war in the Far East;

in the Far East, to co-ordinate plans for the

employment of the British, American and Dutch forces in the event of war against Japan,

that the conversations in the United Kingdom or the

United States should be attended by representatives of the three British Services, the Ministry of Economic Warfare, the Governments of Australia, New Zealand, and Canada, and the Dutch Government: (c) that the conversations in the Far East should be

attended by the members of the (British) Far East Defence Conference, which includes representatives of the Governments of Australia, New Zealand, India and Burma:

(a)

(e)

that both series of conversations should start as

soon as possible;

that the Dominions Governments referred to in (b) and

(c) above, and our' Commanders in the Far East including Commander-in-Chief, East Indies) should be informed forthwith of the possibility that these conversations may take place in the near future:

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