Documents show U.S. pressed Japan in 1964 not to reverse on secret pact

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TOKYO, Nov. 1 Kyodo -
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.
==Kyodo
2009-11-01 22:17:00