Documents show U.S. pressed Japan in 1964 not to reverse on secret pact
Nov. 2, 2009
Wary of Japanese officials seemingly inclined toward tearing up a promise that allowed U.S. military ships to bring in nuclear arms to the country, Washington pressed Tokyo to make good on the covert agreement in 1964, according to newly declassified U.S. documents.
The documents, made available at a time when investigations into the pact are under way under the new Japanese government, show how then U.S. Ambassador to Japan Edwin Reischauer urged ruling party heavyweight Masayoshi Ohira to exert his influence.
As a result, Reischauer and Ohira met in late September 1964 and the United States apparently got what it was seeking. Ohira, who served as prime minister between 1978 and 1980, was at the time in a senior position in the Liberal Democratic Party after leaving the post of foreign minister in a Cabinet reshuffle two months earlier.
The Defense Agency chief appointed in the reshuffle, Junya Koizumi, particularly perplexed the United States with a remark during Diet interpellations about port calls by a U.S. nuclear submarine, which contradicted what Tokyo and Washington agreed on in the secret pact.
In revising the Japan-U.S. security treaty in 1960, the two governments exchanged the pact, under which Tokyo would give tacit approval on stopovers of U.S. military craft or vessels carrying nuclear weapons.
The treaty itself stipulates a prior consultation be held with Japan when the United States brings such weapons into Japanese territory.
A U.S. government memorandum dated Sept. 4, 1964, said Tokyo's intent in making the remarks ''is not yet clear,'' but they ''have disturbing implications for the future utility of our bases in Japan.''
''These statements are clearly inconsistent with a confidential understanding between the two governments to the effect that port calls by U.S. warships or transits and overflights by U.S. aircraft do not constitute 'introduction' (which is mutually understood to mean actual stationing or storage) or require prior consultation under the Treaty, even if nuclear weapons are involved,'' it said.
The document added that the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo ''has been instructed to approach'' the government ''at the highest practicable level, expressing the serious concern of the U.S. Government and asking for a clarification of intent.''
Then on Sept. 19, 1964, the U.S. State Department said in a secret telegram sent to Reischauer that ''approach to Ohira may prove especially useful in ascertaining extent of dissemination within (the Japanese government) of substance 1963 conversation.''
The telegram referred to talks held between Reischauer and Ohira in April 1963, when they reaffirmed the interpretation of the secret pact.
Another declassified document dated Jan. 26, 1968, showed Reischauer did meet with Ohira on Sept. 26, 1964.
The documents were obtained by the National Security Archive in the Untied States and Shoji Niihara, a Japanese historian specializing in Japan-U.S. relations.
Japan, which has stuck to its three nonnuclear principles of not possessing, producing, or permitting the introduction of nuclear weapons, has consistently denied the existence of such a clandestine deal between the two allies.
But after Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama took office in September this year, Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada ordered bureaucrats of his ministry to look into the secret pact and three other purported secret bilateral pacts relating to the security treaty.
The outcome of the ongoing investigation is expected by the end of November, which could lead the government to admit their existence in a landmark reversal of the stance of past governments.
(Distributed by Kyodo News on Nov. 1, 2009)
The documents, made available at a time when investigations into the pact are under way under the new Japanese government, show how then U.S. Ambassador to Japan Edwin Reischauer urged ruling party heavyweight Masayoshi Ohira to exert his influence.
As a result, Reischauer and Ohira met in late September 1964 and the United States apparently got what it was seeking. Ohira, who served as prime minister between 1978 and 1980, was at the time in a senior position in the Liberal Democratic Party after leaving the post of foreign minister in a Cabinet reshuffle two months earlier.
The Defense Agency chief appointed in the reshuffle, Junya Koizumi, particularly perplexed the United States with a remark during Diet interpellations about port calls by a U.S. nuclear submarine, which contradicted what Tokyo and Washington agreed on in the secret pact.
In revising the Japan-U.S. security treaty in 1960, the two governments exchanged the pact, under which Tokyo would give tacit approval on stopovers of U.S. military craft or vessels carrying nuclear weapons.
The treaty itself stipulates a prior consultation be held with Japan when the United States brings such weapons into Japanese territory.
A U.S. government memorandum dated Sept. 4, 1964, said Tokyo's intent in making the remarks ''is not yet clear,'' but they ''have disturbing implications for the future utility of our bases in Japan.''
''These statements are clearly inconsistent with a confidential understanding between the two governments to the effect that port calls by U.S. warships or transits and overflights by U.S. aircraft do not constitute 'introduction' (which is mutually understood to mean actual stationing or storage) or require prior consultation under the Treaty, even if nuclear weapons are involved,'' it said.
The document added that the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo ''has been instructed to approach'' the government ''at the highest practicable level, expressing the serious concern of the U.S. Government and asking for a clarification of intent.''
Then on Sept. 19, 1964, the U.S. State Department said in a secret telegram sent to Reischauer that ''approach to Ohira may prove especially useful in ascertaining extent of dissemination within (the Japanese government) of substance 1963 conversation.''
The telegram referred to talks held between Reischauer and Ohira in April 1963, when they reaffirmed the interpretation of the secret pact.
Another declassified document dated Jan. 26, 1968, showed Reischauer did meet with Ohira on Sept. 26, 1964.
The documents were obtained by the National Security Archive in the Untied States and Shoji Niihara, a Japanese historian specializing in Japan-U.S. relations.
Japan, which has stuck to its three nonnuclear principles of not possessing, producing, or permitting the introduction of nuclear weapons, has consistently denied the existence of such a clandestine deal between the two allies.
But after Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama took office in September this year, Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada ordered bureaucrats of his ministry to look into the secret pact and three other purported secret bilateral pacts relating to the security treaty.
The outcome of the ongoing investigation is expected by the end of November, which could lead the government to admit their existence in a landmark reversal of the stance of past governments.
(Distributed by Kyodo News on Nov. 1, 2009)
