Japan and Pacific Security

Report Outline
New Effort to Make Peace Eith Japan
Terms of Japanese Peace Settlement
Defense of Japan and Pacific Security

New Effort to Make Peace Eith Japan

Prospects for early conclusion of a Japanese peace settlement have been measurably advanced by the series of exploratory discussions which John Foster Dulles recently conducted in Japan, the Philippines, Australia, and New Zealand. A previous attempt to conclude peace with Japan, initiated by the United States in 1947, was abandoned when Moscow objected to the proposed treaty-making procedure. Although the Soviet government is expected to persist in its objections, it is believed that they will not now be allowed to prevent a settlement between Japan and those nations prepared to terminate the state of war that still technically exists five and one-half years after V-J Day. On his return to Washington, Feb. 25, Dulles said “We are in shape to go ahead promptly.”

Preliminary Steps in Revival of Treaty Project

The current treaty effort began in earnest last May, when President Truman gave the State Department the go-ahead signal. Study of the question had been resumed in the autumn of 1949 after Secretary of State Acheson, British Foreign Secretary Bevin, and French Foreign Minister Schuman had agreed on the advisability of a fresh move for peace with Japan. The foreign ministers of Australia, New Zealand, and other British Commonwealth countries, meeting at Colombo, Ceylon, in January 1950, added their support for early negotiation of a treaty. But the project lagged when Washington became apprehensive about terminating the occupation and withdrawing troops from Japan in the changed situation produced by the Communist conquest of all China. Last May, however, President Truman decided against further delay, and the State Department turned over to Dulles, who had recently been appointed a special adviser to the Secretary of State, the task of proceeding with the treaty preparations.

In mid-September, the President announced that he had authorized informal discussions “as to future procedure” with the 12 other nations represented on the Far Eastern Commission, and Dulles held conversations with their representatives at the United Nations during the fall. At the end of October the State Department circulated a memorandum setting forth principles which it suggested should be embodied in a treaty with Japan.